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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 




Frontispiece. 

GREAT SHIPS WILL SAIL IN THE CLOUDS 

The last wars will be fought in the skies. Men shall fly like birds in the 

coming age. — See page 56. 



WONDER 
STORIES 



BY 

FRANCIS TREVELYAN MILLER 

Litt. D., LL. D. '^ 



Founder of the 
JOURNAL OF AMERICAN HISTORY 

Author of 

AMERICAN HERO TALES 

PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY OF THE 
CIVIL WAR, Etc. 



THE CHRISTIAN HERALD 

Bible House, New York 



T47 

.He 



Copyright, 1913 

BY 
THE CHRISTIAN HERALD 

New York City, N. Y. 




y^cU 



©CI.A357961 



FOREWORD 



THESE WONDER STOEIES are entirely orig- 
inal and novel in their form of narrative and 
reveal hitherto unfathomed depths in American 
character and genius. They tell how Americans have 
set out to conquer the hidden secrets of the universe ; 
hoYi they have reached up to the sun and moon and 
stars ; how they have dug down deep into the bowels of 
the earth; how they have walked under the oceans 
and flown on the winds. They tell how Americans have 
created mighty structures with their muscles and 
brains ; how they have performed almost superhuman 
services to mankind ; and how their achievements have 
deservedly placed them in the category of modern 
miracle workers. 

It has been the purpose of Dr. Miller in writing 
this fascinating book to tell only entertaining stories 
about everyday things. Plain truths are told, and 
there has been no effort to make a complete record, 
for such would require not one but many volumes. The 
technicalities of the scientist are purposely avoided 
and only the interesting phases are set forth in these 
pages. G-reat care has been taken, however, to pre- 
serve the accuracy of all the facts. Seldom has there 
been compressed in a single volume such an amount 



III 



FOREWORD 



of information set forth with rare literary skill and 
in a way so attractive that the book becomes a treasure- 
house of human knowledge, human genius, and human 
achievement — all interwoven into stories that are as 
true as wonderful. 

It is a real pleasure, therefore, as well as a privi- 
lege, to send this volume into the homes of America 
where The CHEISTIAI^T Hekald has long been a welcome 

guest. 

The Publishers. 



IV 



CONTENTS 



Page 

The Story of the Astronomer and the Wonders of the Universe 3 
The Story of the Heliographer and the Mysteries of the Sun . . 11 
The Story of the SelenogTapher and His Trips to the Moon . . 17 
The Story of the Geologist and His Journeys on the Earth.. 23 
The Story of the Statesman and the Country in which We Live 28 
The Story of the Congressman and Government by the People 33 
The Story of the Railroad— the Forerunner of Modem Prog- 
ress 38 

The Story of the Empire Builders Who Awakened a Continent 43 
The Story of the Steamship and the Conquest of the Seas. . . 50 
The Story of the Aviator and the Ships that Fly in the Clouds 56 
The Story of the Canal Builder Who Severed a Hemisphere 62 
The Story of the Bridge Builder Who Spans Rivers and Can- 
yons 69 

The Story of the Engineer Who Tunnels under the Earth ... 74 
The Story of the Irrigators Who Transform Deserts into Gar- 
dens 79 

The Story of the Dam Builder Who Conquers the Mighty 

Waters 84 

The Story of the Ocean Cables that Connect the Continents. . 89 
The Story of the Architect and Our Great Skyscrapers .... 94 
The Story of the Man in the Cab Behind the Locomotive ... 99 
The Story of the Journalist and the Making of a Newspaper 104 
The Story of the Postmaster and the Marvels of the Post-office 109 
The Story of the Inventor and the Genius of the Patent Office 114 
The Story of the Great Seaports and the World^s Commerce . . 119 
The Story of the Telegrapher and His Messages Through the 

Air 124 

The Story of the Telephone that Speaks Across the Continents 129 
The Story of the Sewing-Machine and Woman^s Emancipation 134 
The Story of the Typewriter that Revolutionized a World . . . 139 
The Story of the Inventor Who Immortalized the Human 

Voice 145 

The Story of the Motion Pictures and their New Revelations. 150 
The Story of the Street Railway and How It Links Our Cities 156 

V 



CONTENTS 



Page 
The Story of the Elevator and the Buildmg of Great Cities . . 161 

The Story of the Automobilist and the "Horseless Age" 167 

The Story of the Fire Fighters and the Conquest of Flames. . 172 
The Story of the Chemists Who Create Our Powerful Ex- 
plosives 177 

The Story of the Gold Miner Who Digs Nuggets from the 

Soil 183 

The Story of the Silversmith Who Works in Precious Metals 188 
The Stoiy of the Copper Mmer Who Crushes Fortunes from 

Rocks 193 

The Story of the Coal Miner Who Finds Fuel in the Earth . . 197 
The Story of the Iron Miner Who Takes Wealth from the 

Mountains 201 

The Story of the Oil Driller Who Taps the Earth for Riches 205 
The Story of the Well Digger Who Conquers the Natural 

Gases 209 

The Story of the Foundryman and the Giant KJnown as Steel 212 
The Story of the Farmer Who is the Foundation of Civiliza- 
tion 217 

The Story of the Sugar Grower on the Southern Plantations 224 
The Story of the Lumber Man and the Giants of the Forest. . 229 
The Story of the Ranchman and a Glimpse in the Abattoir. . 234 

The Story of the Refrigerator and the Magical Ice 238 

The Story of the Canneries and the Task of Feeding the 

World 242 

The Story of the Fisherman and His Wonderful Fisheries. . 247 
The Story of the Modern Wizard "\^^lo Creates Fruits and 

Flowers 252 

The Story of the Biologist Who Discovered the Secret of Life 259 

The Story of the Physiologist and the Miracle of Man 264 

The Story of the Ornithologist and the Birds of the Air .... 269 

The Story of the Botanist and the Kingdom of Plants 275 

The Story of the Physician and His Fight Against Disease.. 280 
The Story of the Surgeon and How He Saves Our Lives.... 285 
The Story of the Scientist and a Visit to His Laboratory. . . . 290 
The Story of the Photographer Who Records the World's 

Events 295 

The Story of the Mathematicians Who Count Our Population 300 
The Story of the Diver Who Walks on the Bottom of the Sea 306 
The Story of the Plowman as He Drops His Seed in Rich 

Earth .,... .,..,,,. ..,.. 311 

The Story of the Reaper in the Empire of Golden Grain.... 315 

VI 



CONTENTS 



Page 
The Story of Power and the Men Who Harnessed Niagara. . 319 

The Story of the Physicist Who is Harnessing the Sun 324 

The Story of the Mint-m?ster and How He Makes Our Money 328 
The Story of the Meteorologist and the Weather Prophets . . . 333 
The Story of the Miller and the Life-giving Grains of Wheat 338 
The Story of the Incubator that Creates and Saves Life.... 342 
The Story of the Housewife and the New Domestic Science. . 346 
The Story of the Cotton Planter and the Modern Cotton Mills 350 

The Story of the Sheep-raiser and His Crops of Wool 355 

The Story of the Tanner and His Hides of Leather 360 

The Story of the Pin-maker and What He Has Done 364 

The Story of the Needle-worker and Her Service to the World 370 
The Story of the Weaver and His Wonderful Skeins of Thread 376 

The Story of the Match-maker and His Magic Fire 381 

The Story of the Carpenter and How He Builds Our Homes 386 

The Story of Light and How It Has Conquered Night 391 

The Story of Heat and How We Learned to Create It . 396 

The Story of Water and How We Came to Conquer It 401 

The Story of the School-roistress and the Army of Children. . 406 

The Story of the Librarian and the World of Books 410 

The Story of the Sunday School Teacher and Her Good Work 414 
The Story of the Young Men of the Nation— and a Benefactor 419 
The Story of the Young Women of the Nation— Future Moth- 
ers 424 

The Story of the Working Women and Their Modest Earnings 428 
The Story of the Hospital Nurse and the Battle for Health . . 431 
The Story of Modern Sanitation and Its Great Blessings.... 435 

The Story of the Paper-maker and a Visit to the Mills 439 

The Story of the Glass Blower and His Creations of Beauty. . 444 
The Story of the Rubber King and a Journey into the Jungles 449 
The Story of the Printing Press as the Guardian of Liberty. . 454 
The Story of the Type-setter and the Marvelous Linotype. . 457 
The Story of the Immigrant and the Lure of American Free- 
dom 461 

The Story of the Philanthropist and His Gifts to Humanity. . 466 
The Story of the Scholars and the "Book of All Books".... 471 
The Story of the Archeologist and His Adventures in America 478 
The Story of the Explorer Who Digs up Long Lost Cities. . 482 
The Story of the American Woman and the Torch of Civiliza- 
tion 488 

The Story of the Pioneer on the Path of the World's Progress 493 
The Story of the Clergyman and the Miracle of Miracles. . . 498 

VII 



Dr. Miller wishes to acknowledge the 
valuable assistance of the following 
staff of researchers in gathering the 
material in The Search-lightJ Library 
for these Wonder Stories : Walter R. 
Bickford, Herbert G. Wintersgill, 
Wallace H. Miller. Miss A. K. 
Walker. T. Arthur Nesbitt. J. W. 
Russell. David St. Clair. Frederick 
H. Dewey, Victor Emanuel, 
Gabriel Schlesinger, Meyer Cohn. 
Joseph Devlin, A. T. Sieker, N. 
O. Wilhelm, and J. S. Beckett. 



VIII 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



Page 
Great Ships Will Sail in the Clouds ^ Frontispiece ^ 

First Vessel Passing Through Gatun Locks of the 

Panama Canal 55 ^ 

Hurling the Human Voice Across the Continent . . . 119 v^ 

How Men Tunnel into the Bowels op the Earth to 
Secure Coal to Furnish Fuel for Homes and In- 
dustries 183 

A Modern Miracle Worker Among the Flowers He 

Created , 247 "^ 

Solving the Problem op Long Life 311 ""^ 

*' Going Down to the Bottom op the Sea" 375 u^ 

The Man Who Turned Night into Day 439 «^ 



IX 



WONDER STORIES 



WONDER STORIES— what a world of romance 
gathers about these words ! What hidden mys- 
teries are nnveiled as we turn these leaves! 
What tremendous impulses kindle the imagination as 
we listen to these tales of the achievements of men who 
are solving the problems of the universe ! 

It was an interesting scene on that memorable day 
when the Story-tellers gathered around the big read- 
ing-table in the library. They had come from all the 
corners of the land. There was the Westerner, with 
Ms tales of the mines and their fabulous wealth ; there 
was the Northerner, with his tales of gigantic indus- 
tries ; there w^as the Southerner, with his tales of the 
great plantations; there was the Easterner, with his 
tales of giant cities ; and there was the rugged Story- 
teller of the Middle West, with his tales of vast em- 
pires of golden grain. 

The log glowed brightly on the hearth as they drew 
their chairs closely about it. There were lawyers and 
doctors, ministers and schoolmasters, bankers and 
manufacturers, merchants and farmers, scientists, in- 
ventors, and engineers. From every trade and occu- 
pation they had come, each with his story of some 
marvelous creation from the hands and minds of men, 
true stories of modern life more wonderful than the 
ancient fables or the tales of the Arabian Nights. 
And there were women among them, women of cour- 
age and genius, whose stories rivaled those of the 
others in the recital. 

1 



WONDER STORIES 



So it was that the story-telling began, each relating 
his or her own narrative of some modern miracle, 
until a hundred tales had been told — one each night 
for a hundred nights. 

The library table was strewn with papers and 
books. There were great encyclopedias and works of 
reference. The walls were covered from floor to ceil- 
ing with spacious shelves, filled with deep red boxes in 
which were treasured records and pictures relating 
to every phase of the world's progress. 

It was like delving into the treasure-chests of old 
Mother Earth. It seemed as if the Story-tellers were 
gathering at the foot of her throne, while she, like a 
magician, revealed her secrets one by one, and un- 
folded before her listeners the wonderful visions of 
the genius of man. 

It so happened that among these listeners there 
was one whose duty it was to preserve them, a young 
historian filled with the love of life and all living 
things. Thus it is that they are spread before you in 
these pages in the simple, homely language of the 
Story-teller. Every story is true; each reveals some 
wonderful secret in life, and each informs the listener 
about people, things, and events that are a part of 
everyday life in America and the world. 

You are bid welcome as a guest to sit down before 
this book and listen to its revelations; to meet these 
magicians of modern science and industry, these al- 
chemists of civilization. They will carry you through 
every current of human ambition; they will take you 
face to face with the great problems of human exist- 
ence; you will penetrate with them the mysteries of 
nearly every phase of human effort. With these Story- 
tellers you will cover the vast area of human thought 
and human action, for their tales are in themselves a 
liberal education for all who desire to know life. 

2 



THE STORY OF THE ASTRONOMER AND 
THE WONDERS OF THE UNIVERSE 



THE old astronomer was chosen to tell the first 
story. As he arose, the Story-tellers stood for 
a moment in tribute to his venerable years. 

A shock of snow-white hair fell over his bent shoul- 
ders. The deep lines in his face told of long struggles 
with the elements. In his sunken gray eyes there was 
a far-away look, as though he were peering into other 
worlds. 

*^I am the eldest among you," he began, ^*and my 
tale is the tale of eternity. It is the story of the men 
who are solving the riddles of the universe. In the 
realms to which I shall take you they reckon time by 
millions of years, and distance by billions of miles.'' 

His lips trembled as he spoke. 

^^We do not really begin to comprehend the won- 
ders of life," he said, ^^ until we seek to unfold the 
secrets of God's gigantic plan. Wonderful as our 
earth seems, it is but one of many worlds which some 
day we may visit — who knows? I have seen so many 
miracles in my long life that there is no doubt left 
within me. I fear nothing, and least of all to die, for 
I know that all is well on the other side. ' ' 

The grim face lightened with the glow of faith and 
hope. 

* ' Far up on the summit of a rugged mountain, ' ' he 
began, ^4n the dead silence of giant forests, 4,000 feet 
above the level of the sea, there stands a strange build- 

3 



WONDER STORIES 



ing with a huge steel dome. It is reached only by a 
road that winds its way from the San Jose valley, in 
California, up the sides of the mountain range, until 
it brings you to the lonely edifice in the clouds at the 
end of a twenty-five mile journey. 

''It is to this house of modern miracles that I invite 
your imagination to-day,'' he continued, bowing gal- 
lantly. ''This is the famous Lick Observatory on 
Mount Hamilton, the first of the world's great moun- 
tain observatories, and it is here that American scien- 
tists are sitting to-day at their great telescopes, 
focusing their visions on the unknown worlds in an 
heroic effort to 'bridge the chasm.' On the borders 
of Lake Geneva, in Wisconsin, another group of sci- 
entists at this moment are peering into the heavens 
through the largest telescope in the world, in the 
Yerkes Observatory. On another mountain peak 8,000 
feet high, near Arequipa, Peru, still a third group of 
American scientists from the Harvard Observatory 
are giving their lives to solve the secrets of the 'Great 
Divide.' 

"The wonder story of the astronomers is almost 
beyond human belief. Throughout America, in nearly 
every university, you will find men standing on duty 
in the observatories like pilots at the wheel of a great 
ship on its endless voyage through the heavens. 

"To-night, if the sky is clear," said the astronomer, 
"go out onto the balconies of your homes, as if they 
were the decks of the ship, and watch the giant lights, 
the buoys of the sky, as we pass them on our voyage. 
Then, too, we may hail other ships — ^mammoth planets 
like our own — that are steering their courses through 
infinity. 

"The stars," said he, "have always had a peculiar 
fascination for mankind. Their number and bril- 
liancy, and, above all, the mystery that seems to hang 

4 



STORY OF THE UNIVERSE 



around them, have attracted men from the beginning 
of time. Centuries ago the primeval shepherds gazed 
at them raptly as they tended their flocks. 

^^What are the stars? It is a story of absorbing 
interest. On a clear night we see the entire sky 
spangled with these tiny points of light. Perhaps we 
have tried to count them. There are about 5,000 stars 
visible to the naked eye. But the telescope has multi- 
plied this number ten thousand fold. The number of 
stars already discovered amounts to about 53,000,000. 
And what proportion these bear to the stupendous 
whole — those countless worlds that exist in the fath- 
omless void far beyond the telescope's reach— who can 
tell? Their number has been put at five hundred bil- 
lion as a minimum estimate. 

^^Kow far are the stars from us? Light travels at 
the rate of 12,000,000 miles per minute. So vv^e will 
put down in ^light-years' the time that it takes the 
light of a star to reach us. Take the nearest of the 
stars, Alpha Centauri. Jt takes its light four years 
to reach the earth. This conveys some idea of its vast 
distance. But if we were to reduce the four years to 
minutes, and then multiply by 12,000,000, the result 
would give the estimated distance of the nearest star 
to the earth." 

*^How far would that be?" asked one of the 
listeners. 

*^ Merely a distance of twenty-five trillion, two 
hundred and twenty-eight billion, eight hundred million 
miles," answered the astronomer, with a smile. 

^^This is the nearest star — our next door neigh- 
bor," he added. ^^But when we come to some that 
are farther away our heads begin to swim. I will 
leave you to work it out. It is only necessary for me 
to say that there are some whose distances are 
estimated at 10,000 light-years. That is, it takes their 

5 



WONDER STORIES 



light ten thousand years to reach us. They may have 
been extinguished ages ago, but their light still shines 
at a distance of 630 qua-trillion miles. A beam of 
light, leaving one of these stars the instant Christ was 
born, traveling at the rate of 12,000,000 miles a minute, 
had not, in 1913, completed a fifth of its journey to us. 
It will not reach the earth until about 8,000 years from 
now, or in the year 10,000 A. D. 

*^The astronomers pile up wonder on wonder. Sir 
William Herschel puts the light-years of the Milky 
Way at 12,000. The limit reached in the year 1913 
gives a calculation of three and a half million light- 
years for a certain star. Figure out the distance for 
yourself; then you will begin to comprehend the vast- 
ness of this awe-inspiring universe in which we live. 

**Let us hail a few of the sister planets as we pass 
them on our voyage,'' exclaimed the astronomer. 
*'They are our sister ships in the universe, as they 
sail in orderly array around the sun as their center. 
There are seven planets, besides the earth and some 
minor bodies, called asteroids. Two of these planets, 
Mercury and Venus, are nearer to the sun than is the 
earth; the rest are farther away. Some are smaller 
than the earth; others are considerably larger. At 
one time or another we can see every planet except 
Uranus and Neptune, which are at such vast distances 
that they cannot be seen with the naked eye. 

** Mercury is the smallest of the planets and is so 
near the sun that it is difficult to see it. 

"Venus is about the same size as the earth and is 
the most brilliant of the planets. We can see its sil- 
very form for many months either in the morning or 
evening. Mars is much smaller than the earth, whose 
nearest planetary neighbor it is. It is always recog- 
nized by its reddish light. 

** Jupiter is the giant planet, being nearly 1,300 

6 



STORY OF THE UNIVERSE 



times the size of the earth. For this reason it appears 
very bright and golden, although its distance from us 
is at least 367,000,000 miles. It is more than five times 
farther away from the sun than is the earth. Jupiter 
has a long way to travel around the sun, and this 
makes its year equal to about twelve of ours. 

*^ Saturn is the most distant of the planets that 
can be seen with the naked eye, being over a billion 
miles from us. It is second in size of the planets and 
would make 760 earths. Its distance from the sun is 
about 900,000,000 miles ; and it takes about twenty of 
our years for it to travel around the sun. The most 
interesting feature of Saturn is the beautiful rings 
surrounding it, about which many theories have been 
formed. 

** Uranus was regarded as the most distant planet 
of our system until 1846. But here occurred a wonder- 
ful scientific achievement — ^truly a triumph of astro- 
nomical mathematics. Certain irregularities were 
noticed in the orbital movements of Uranus. Two 
astronomers, Adams and Leverrier, maintained that 
these irregularities were due to an undiscovered 
planet, which would be found in a certain position. 
Sure enough, Neptune was discovered there. 

*^ Neptune, the last planet to be discovered, is at 
a distance of nearly three billion miles from the earth. 
It is an inconspicuous object even through a telescope, 
although it is about eighty-five times larger than the 
earth. At the uttermost confines of the solar system 
it moves in its vast orbit round the sun once in about 
165 years. 

** There are many legends about the stars," con- 
tinued the old astronomer. * ^ Some of them are about 
the North or Polar star, which for ages has been a 
guide to mariners, owing to the fact that it is always 
situated in the same position, no matter from what 
2 7 



WONDER STORIES 



spot it is seen. There are many legends of the Great 
Dipper, kno'\\Ti by this name because of its resemblance 
to a dipper with a bent handle. The Romans called 
it ^the seven ploughing oxen/ because it seemed to be 
a yoke of seven stars. There is an ancient myth about 
the Pleiades, Trhich relates that the seven daughters 
of Atlas were translated to the skies, but that one hid 
herself from shame at her mesalliance with a mortal, 
so there are now only six stars in the Pleiades. 

'^Of all the stars, Sirius, the dog-star, is the most 
splendid. Consider that it is eight light-years distant 
and yet its light appears brilliant to us. Sirius 
must then be of stupendous magnitude. Our own mag- 
nificent sun shrinks to insignificance in the comparison. 

*^ Algol, the 'demon star' (so-called by the Arabs) 
has come in for a good deal of attention from astron- 
omers. It figures in the famous story of Perseus and 
Andromeda. Perseus, you may remember, killed 
Medusa, whose look turned mortals to stone ; and Al- 
gol has been placed in her head in the sky. Algol's 
brightness is more than fifty times that of our sun." 

^'What are the shooting-stars?'' inquired one of 
the Story-tellers. 

*' Celestial fireworks," answered the astronomer. 
** There is a special display about every thirty-three 
years. They are pieces of broken comets or dead 
worlds; and they often fall to the earth, in various 
shapes and sizes, sometimes as fireballs, at other times 
as meteoric stones or aerolites, some as small as grains 
of sand. From the earliest times there have been 
legends of stones falling from heaven. Until the be- 
ginning of the nineteenth century, the scientific world 
treated such accounts as fairy tales. No one doubts 
nowadays that meteoric stones fall from the skies, but 
they are no longer worshiped, like the black stone in 
the Kaaba of Mecca or the black stone of Emesa. Un- 

8 



STORY OF THE UNIVERSE 



der the entrance arch to the Museum of Natural His- 
tory in New York may be seen the largest aerolite 
known. It measures eleven and one-half feet in length, 
seven and one-half in width, and is three and one-half 
feet in thickness. But it may have been much larger 
when it first fell, for when it was found among the 
Eskimos of Greenland, they told how for many years 
they had been manufacturing knives and other weap- 
ons out of it. 

^^The birth of a star! It is a wonderful event. 
We think of it as belonging to the remote past, but 
new stars come forth every now and then. The as- 
tronomers of Mount Wilson Observatory were privi- 
leged to witness the birth of a star in 1911 ; or, rather, 
they viewed the new star when it was ten years old; 
for it took that length of time for its light to reach 
the earth. More than that, they photographed it. 
They tell us that it originated from a nebula five 
hundred billions of miles in diameter, and, when seen, 
was already one hundred and fifty billions of miles 
from the parent body. 

^ ' Do stars die ? They do — but their death is a slow 
process stretching through countless ages. These 
dead stars are dark and cold, but they move on their 
way with incredible rapidity. Sometimes two of these 
dead worlds meet; and then there is a catastrophe 
such as we can barely imagine. We are told that the 
fragments broken off by such a collision become 
sometimes a new star, sometimes a mass of meteorites. 

^'We come now to the most stupendous fact of 
all — the fact that gives us hope for our own future. 
The stars are not ^ fixed,' as we call them, but are, 
one and all, moving forward in a straight line for some 
unknown destination. They are moving with fearful 
velocity, some twenty, some as much as a hundred, 
miles per second. Think what that means in a year, 

9 



WONDER STORIES 



still more in a century ! Yet the naked eye could de- 
tect little change in the position of the stars in thou- 
sands of years. Our sun, being a star, is likewise 
moving, carrying with it planets, earth, and moon. 
The solar system forms one of a series of grand pro- 
cessions through the universe. We are moving to- 
ward the constellation Lyra at the rate of about 
1,600,000 miles per day! 

**Are we the only living beings in the universe? 
Many eminent scientists think not. They point to the 
wonderful ^canals' on Mars, and claim that they are 
the work of sentient beings who have attained to a 
plane of civilization far in advance of our own. 
Astronomers have extremely interesting theories about 
our heavenly neighbors. Some believe that the Mar- 
tians are highly intelligent; others believe that they 
are monstrous beings in the shapes of crabs, scorpions 
or spiders. Another states that life on Mars is cen- 
tered in a huge, all-embracing vegetable or plant spread 
out over the planet and having a monstrous eye. Some 
think Martians resemble us in form. The solution may 
come any day, for it is now proposed to communicate 
with the planet by means of a huge reflector which 
could be constructed at a cost of $10,000,000 and would 
flash a vivid mathematical formula across the inter- 
vening space. 

^^What does it all mean?^' asked the venerable as- 
tronomer in conclusion. ^^When did it all begin? 
Where will it all end? Do we go to the stars when we 
leave the earth? Is death merely a sudden change to 
another planet which we call heaven? Do we leap from 
planet to planet and star to star through the ages? 
After all, with all our marvelous progress in science, 
with all our wonder stories, we have barely lifted a 
corner of the curtain that screens the wonders of the 
firmament. ' ' 

10 



THE STORY OF THE HELIOGRAPHER 
AND THE MYSTERIES OF THE SUN 






THE last lingering rays of the snn were stream- 
ing through the library windows. Its fantastic 
shadows were dancing on the dark green velvet 
rug like elves in a mossy glen. Far away, over the 
western hills, the huge world of flame was slowly 
sinking from its throne in the skies, leaving behind it 
a brilliant trail of blood red and gold. 

It was then that the young man with a long, slim 
face, who had been listening attentively to the vener- 
able astronomer, arose. 

I beg the honor,'' he said, bowing courteously, 
of being allowed to tell the second story, because it is 
so closely akin to the wonderful tale to which we have 
just listened. 

*^I am a heliographer, " he continued thoughtfully. 
*^It is my duty to take photographs of the sun. I am 
more than this : I am a uranographer — that is, a man 
who constructs celestial maps and describes the heav- 
enly bodies.'' 

*^My friends," he said, '*let me tell you about 
those rays of light in the window. They are the source 
of all life. Without them nothing can long exist. Some 
day we shall learn the incalculable value of the sun- 
beams. They are more precious than all the gold and 
all the richest gems of the earth ; and yet they are free 
to every human being. The sun, like many other great 
things, has become so commonplace that we are in- 
clined to ignore it. If it could be seen only from 

11 



WONDER STORIES 



one place, or on one day of the year, no spectacle in 
nature wonid be so eagerly sought after, or so deeply 
appreciated. We would then go around the world to 
get one glimpse of sunshine. 

^^That gigantic ball of fire called the sun is a mil- 
lion times larger than the earth. It has stood like a 
monarch in the heavens, pouring out its heat and light 
since the beginning of time — some scientists say for 
more than one hundred million years. 

' ^ Look at that sunbeam flickering on the rug. How 
far do you think it has come on its journey from the 
sun to our feet ? ' ' 

The Story-tellers awaited his answer with deep in- 
terest. 

^^It has traveled 92,500,000 miles, '^ replied the 
young scientist, ^Ho bring its life-giving forces to us. 
It has taken it less than eight minutes to get here. 
Its speed is 12,000,000 miles a minute. Just think of 
it, 200,000 miles a second ! How would you like to be 
shot around the world in an eighth of a second? 

*'It is no wonder that in ancient times the sun was 
worshiped as a god. There it rules in all its majesty, 
giving us the light which we call day and then leav- 
ing us in the darkness which we call night, whenever 
we turn away from it. So tremendous is its power 
that it holds the earth and the planets in their orbits 
and forces them to revolve around it in an endless pro- 
cession, like courtiers before a king. It is not sur- 
prising that its daily appearance and reappearance 
with unfailing regularity — never a moment late in its 
time-table — has excited the interest and piqued the 
curiosity of man. 

^^In the days of the old Greeks,'' he continued, 
**it was believed that Apollo was the divinity of the 
sun and also the twin brother of Artemis, the moon- 
goddess. He drove across the skies in a glorious 

12 



STORY OF THE SUN 



chariot. Do you remember the tale of his inexperi- 
enced son, Phaethon, who drove the chariot too near 
the earth and almost caused a universal conflagra- 
tion! The ancient Mexicans believed the sun was the 
supreme deity, while down in Peru the Incas, or royal 
family, claimed to be children of the sun. The Par- 
sees of India still worship the sun as the chief emblem 
of divinity. The American Indians worshiped the 
sun and passed their peace-pipe around in the direc- 
tions of its course. All over the world the great lumi- 
nary has received the adoration of mankind. 

^^Then there came the day,'' continued the Story- 
teller, *^when the sun ceased to be worshiped in the 
civilized world. It fell into comparative insignifi- 
cance for a long time. It was stripped of its divinity 
and, for all its splendor, became only a great lamp for 
lighting the earth. It was then believed that the one 
central thing in the universe was the earth, the home 
of man. The wise men claimed that the world had 
been made so firm that it could not be moved, and that 
the sun revolved about it. ' ' 

The listeners laughed heartily at the idea. 

*'But the sun finally came unto its own," contin- 
ued the young scientist. ^ ^ Its divinity had, indeed, van- 
ished; but it acquired its rightful place as center of 
the cosmic system. 

*^It was an old German priest, Copernicus, who 
proclaimed, in 1530, that the sun was the fixed point, 
and that the earth revolved around it. Since that 
great discovery, the history of astronomy has been a 
successive unrolling of the wonders of the heavens 
before the eyes of mankind. The planetary system was 
mapped out; new planets came within range of the 
telescope ; and, impossible as it once seemed, the vari- 
ous heavenly bodies were weighed and measured. Our 
world, once considered to be the whole of creation, 

13 



WONDER STORIES 



shrank into insignificance compared with some of the 
little 4sles of light' that hid their diminished heads 
before the giant sun. 

*'But the most remarkable thing about the sun," 
continued the Story-teller, ^4s its heat. Every day 
our American scientists are working on plans for util- 
izing the rays of the sun for power. Do we realize 
the stupendous amount of heat that the sun is con- 
stantly distributing to the earth and the rest of the 
planetary system! If the sun depended on coal, it 
would have to burn every hour a quantity sufficient to 
coyer its entire surface to a depth of twenty feet." 

**What is this heat, and how is it perpetually main- 
tained?" asked one of the listeners. 

^'That question puzzled the scientific world for 
some time," answered the speaker. **They have 
worked for generations to discover how all this heat 
is continuously produced. It was thought at one time 
that the sun was an ordinary ball of fire which was 
cooling off, and would some time leave the earth in 
utter darkness. This would cause the end of the world. 
If that had been true, it would have burned itself up 
in the course of 3,000 to 4,000 years. It was then ar- 
gued that it was being constantly fed by hot meteors. 
The scientists finally decided that it is a great body of 
gas that radiates its heat and light. It was agreed 
that the sun becomes smaller in size each year and 
that it once was many times larger than it is to-day. 
It has been carefully calculated that it diminishes 
about 250 feet each year. ' ' 

*^What are the Americans doing toward solving 
these great secrets of the sunT asked one of the lis- 
teners. 

^'The scenes in the observatories tell their own 
story," answered the heliographer. ** Their patient 
researches have brought us much of our present 

14 



STORY OF THE SUN 



knowledge. It was an American, Jonathan Homer 
Lane, wlio discovered how the contraction of the sun 
generated its heat. It was another American, Pro- 
fessor George Ellery Hale, who invented the instru- 
ment that photographs the sun's rays. The story of 
Professor Hale is a wonder story in itself. He was 
born in Chicago, in 1868. With the assistance of his 
father, he established the Kenwood Observatory in 
Chicago and here it was, in 1892, that a landmark in 
the history of astronomy was passed. At an age when 
most scientists have barely started experimenting, 
George Hale achieved a great thing. He produced 
the first successful spectroscopic photograph of the 
sun's disk ever obtained." 

^*How was this accomplished!" asked one of the 
listeners. 

^^It has always been difficult to obtain a satisfac- 
tory photograph of the sun," replied the scientist. 
**In glancing at the sun, we feel in a vague way that 
we do not know exactly what we are seeing. When 
seen through a telescope, the image of the sun is con- 
fused, even to the expert. A photograph obtained by 
the ordinary instruments is at best a composite pic- 
ture of the actual mass of the sun. Professor Hale 
invented the * spectroheliograph. ' The word is not 
so formidable as it sounds. It simply means ^sun 
spectrum-depicter, ' an instrument for taking a pic- 
ture of the sun by means of its spectrum. It photo- 
graphs the sun in the light of its own luminous ele- 
ments, one by one. The spectroheliograph thus makes 
possible a clear photograph of the sun, revealing, so 
far as may be, what is going on there. ' ' 

The young scientist held a photograph in his hand. 

*^ There is a picture," he said, ^^ showing two 
clouds like waterspouts, with a black hole at the cen- 
ter of each. They are the solar cyclones or tornadoes, 

15 



WONDER STORIES 



having opposite rotary motions. The imagination 
fails at the thought of these titanic storm clouds of 
electrical particles, whose magnetic strength has been 
measured as accurately as that of a magnet. ' ' 

^^ There is an interesting story about Professor 
Hale, ' ^ exclaimed the speaker. ' ' It came about in this 
way. Two great glass disks were ground by Alvan 
Clark, the well-known lens-maker. They were in- 
tended for the proposed observatory of the University 
of South California, but remained in the rough for 
want of funds. Professor Hale heard of this and had 
an idea. He went to Charles T. Yerkes, the street car 
magnate, and persuaded him to buy the disks for the 
Chicago University. This was the origin of the Yerkes 
Observatory, which to-day houses the largest refract- 
ing telescope in the world. It was certainly unusual 
to appoint so young a man — Professor Hale was only 
twenty-six at the time. ' ' 

The young Story-teller hesitated a moment. His 
voice was clear and decisive. 

*'We have only just begun," he said, ^^to learn 
about the sun. The time may come when the sun- 
beams will heat our homes and take the place of the 
coal which is being so rapidly exhausted. We may 
have solar engines to run our mills. 

** There is nothing improbable in this wonderful 
world. I have long since ceased to doubt. I am ready 
to expect anything. We have only just begun to solve 
the mysteries of the universe. '* 



16 



THE STORY OF THE SELENOGRAPHER 
AND HIS TRIPS TO THE MOON 



THE shades of evening had fallen. The mantle 
of night lay over the city like a huge black robe. 
Proudly the old moon mounted the skies like a 
queen in her chariot. 

The Story-tellers were sitting in the darkness. The 
silvery light of the moon transformed the library into 
a veritable fairyland. The dim outlines of the tall, 
gaunt figure of a middle-aged man, with smooth face 
and shaggy brows, moved from a corner of the room. 

^^I will introduce myself,'' he said. ^'It takes all 
kinds of occupations to make a world. I am a selenog- 
rapher. It is my business to photograph and map 
the mountains and valleys of the moon." 

^'Are you the original man in the moon?'' inter- 
rupted a voice from the darkness. 

*^No, I am not," replied the speaker, somewhat 
seriously, ^^but I have been watching that man in the 
moon for a good many years. I am also very well ac- 
quainted with the woman in the moon, and I am going 
to tell you something about their wonderful home. ' ' 

^'We Americans," he continued, ^'are inclined to 
ignore the wonders that surround us. We look out of 
the window on a moonlight night like this and merely 
mention that 4t is a beautiful night.' Little do we 
think that the huge object before our eyes is a dead 
world — a world devoid, so far as can be ascertained, 
of air and water. It is a world with astonishing ex- 
tremes of temperature — utterly unfitted to be the 

17 



WONDER STORIES 



abode of any animal or vegetable life with which we 
are familiar.'' 

*'How far away is the moon from us!" asked one 
of. the listeners. 

**It is our nearest neighbor," replied the speaker. 
**It is only 239,000 miles from the earth — ^merely ^next 
door' when we consider astronomical distances. The 
moon is much smaller than the earth. It would re- 
quire the materials contained in eighty-one moons to 
form our globe." 

^^The moon is full of interest and importance to 
us," continued the Story-teller. "It belongs to the 
witching hour of night, with all its magic and mystery. 
It plays a large part in our myths and legends. In the 
ancient religions there were always moon-goddesses. 
One of these was Artemis, twin-sister of the sun-god, 
Apollo. Calm and majestic were those divinities, and 
many romantic stories are told of them. 

"Popular superstition has always credited the 
moon wdth a powerful influence on human affairs. Our 
word ^lunatic' is a survival of the ancient belief in the 
etfects of moonlight on the brain. The moon has al- 
ways been associated with good or evil fortune; cer- 
tain acts have been lucky or unlucky according as they 
are performed under a new or full moon. It was this 
belief that once hindered the Spartans from taking 
part in the great battle of Marathon, and thus shar- 
ing in its glory, 490 years before Christ. Even to-day 
these superstitions linger. There are still people who 
tell us that it is unlucky to view the new moon for the 
first time through glass." 

A ripple of laughter passed around the room as 
the guests taunted each other about their supersti- 
tions. 

"Modern science," continued the selenographer, 
"has taken away some of the poetry and romance of 

18 



STORY OF THE MOON 



our celestial neighbor, but it has given ns fresh won- 
ders in compensation. We have learned that the moon 
is the earth's solitary satellite. Some planets can boast 
quite an array of attendant orbs. We are now trying 
to find out just what there is on this neighbor of ours ; 
whether, for instance, the strange markings observed 
on it are canals or not. The telescope of the Lick 
Observatory in California brings the moon within a 
hundred miles of us. Some day explorers may visit 
the moon. You will remember that Jules Yerne in his 
stories told how the intrepid explorers of the moon 
found themselves skipping like young lambs over the 
moon, bouncing up and down, like rubber balls, on its 
surface. This is in accordance with scientific 
probabilities. The moon's force of gravity is only 
one-sixth that of the earth. This would cause curious 
results from our point of view. Things would have a 
greater tendency to go up than to come down, and the 
exertion required to raise a weight from the earth 
would raise a weight six times greater on the moon. 

^^No one has ever seen the other side of the moon/' 
remarked the Story-teller. '^ There are many roman- 
tic explanations of this. Marie Corelli has advanced 
the theory that all w^e see of the moon is the perma- 
nent image, projected into space, of a world long anni- 
hilated. 

*^And now for the American scientist," he ex- 
claimed. ^'It was an American, Professor Henry 
Draper, who gave to the world its first authentic 
knowledge of the moon, when, on those notable days, 
half a century ago, he took the first photographs ever 
made of that mysterious world and opened the way 
for astronomers to map it out as though it were 
merely a distant country. These celestial photo- 
graphs proved that the man in the moon and his lady 
love were nothing more than the shadows of hills and 

19 



WONDER STORIES 



valleys. A. fascinating picture met our gaze. The 
markings of the surface, perceived dimly with the 
naked eye, were seen to be a mass of craters, unlike 
any that we have on earth. They occur in endless 
profusion, some with a diameter of one hundred miles 
and with exterior w^alls towering 20,000 feet high. It 
is a world of craters. In some places, they are crowded 
together in an indistinguishable mass; in others, a 
central cone clearly appears, with smaller peaks 
around it. Some of the large craters have been named ; 
we have, for example, the Crater of Copernicus and 
the Crater of Archimedes. There are lofty moun- 
tains, some peaks of the lunar Apennines rising to a 
height of 20,000 feet. 

^'We used to think, '^ he said, slowly, ^Hhat there 
were seas on the moon, and the name mare (the Latin 
for sea) is still used in astronomy. But these ^ seas' 
of a waterless world are simply large stretches of sur- 
face, which are comparatively level, and which are 
crossed by thin lines, or ^ rills,' sometimes hundreds of 
miles long. Then there are curious streaks or rays 
of brilliant whiteness, radiating through some of the 
principal craters." 

'^Tell us something about the first celestial photog- 
rapher," urged a young man who was fascinated by 
the narrative. 

*^ Professor Draper," said the narrator, 'Svas the 
first to give to the world the wonders of the moon 
by means of photography. He forged the last link in 
the long chain connecting star-worship with modern 
science. It is a long stretch indeed from the Chal- 
dasan sage to the American astronomer. But the mod- 
ern professor wrought wonders of which the ancient 
star-gazers never dreamed. He made the dim and 
shadowy moon a reality to us, mapped it out, showed 
us, here its mountains, there its craters." 

20 



STORY OF THE MOON 



*^Who was this first of selenograpliers ? ' ^ 

^'He was the son of John William Draper, a scien- 
tist of eminence. Henry Draper was born in 1837, in 
Prince Edward County, Virginia. He removed in 
his youth to New York, where he remained the rest of 
his life. For many years he was professor of various 
sciences in New Y^ork University; but all his spare 
time was given to astronomical studies, especially the 
development of lunar photography. He died in 1882. 

' ' The great work initiated by Draper has not been 
neglected by his countrymen,'' explained the Story- 
teller. '^It is a credit to one of the newest of nations 
that it has achieved so much for the oldest of sciences. 
Another celestial photographer is Lewis Morris Euth- 
erford, who, in 1858, began to devote attention to this 
science. He had a telescope especially constructed to 
make a photographic chart of the heavens. Although 
he never accomiplished this project, his work marks a 
distinct advance in lunar photography, and his pho- 
tographs are renowned throughout the astronomical 
w^orld. Since then, the Lick and Yerkes observatories 
have developed largely this particular field of work. 

^* Another eminent American astronomer is George 
William Hill, who has made notable contributions to 
our knowledge of the moon, but his work, being con- 
cerned with the mathematical side of the subject, has 
made little popular appeal. But it is recognized 
amongst astronomers; indeed, a gold medal was be- 
stowed on him by the London Royal Astronomical So- 
ciety. It is an American, Professor Simon Newcomb, 
who has discovered much that we know about the mo- 
tion of the moon. His international reputation may be 
gauged by his election to the French Legion of Honor, 
being the first American since Franklin to receive the 
distinction, as well as to various scientific societies 
all over the world. Professor E. H. Brown has also 

21 



WONDER STORIES 



made valuable contributions to this particular branch 
of the subjecf 

As the Story-teller continued his narrative, the 
moon rose higher and higher. Its silvery light gleamed 
on the window panes. 

^ ' Have we found out all there is to be known about 
the moonf asked a listener. 

*^Our human curiosity is still unsatisfied!" ex- 
claimed the selenographer. **We want to know what 
kind of life once existed on the moon ; what exists there 
to-day; what those ^canals' really mean; what rela- 
tion it has to the earth. And American scientists are 
giving their lives to reveal these secrets. Perhaps, at 
some remote time, Mother Earth, with her tidal dis- 
turbances, had something to do with the moon. For 
earth and moon have ever influenced one another. 

*^We know the moon rules the tides. We are told 
that the moon was once quite near the earth, and that 
the tides have driven it farther and farther away. It 
is still receding from us, and in the distant future — 
perhaps some millions of years — ^it will get so far that 
our whole life will be changed. ' ' 



22 



THE STORY OF THE GEOLOGIST AND 
HIS JOURNEYS ON THE EARTH 



THE fourth night of the Story-tellers' carnival 
found them seated about the great table. At the 
head, in the place of honor, stood a bald-headed 
man, with a rather flint-like face. Beside him was a 
huge revolving globe. 

^ ^ To-night, * ' he said, curtly, ^^we are going to stay 
right here on the earth. We have been soaring in 
the heavens long enough. Now let us settle down on 
this wonderful old earth of ours. Here we were born, 
here we must live our little lives, and here we shall 
die. However adventurous we may be, we have not 
yet been able to travel beyond it. We cannot yet com- 
municate with other worlds. Nay, the most advanced 
science cannot tell us whether they are inhabited at 
all, much less whether by beings similar to ourselves. 
We may be like ants on our ant-hill, as a learned as- 
tronomer has said, but still to the ant his ant-hill is 
the most important thing in the world. ' ' 

He patted the big globe lovingly with his rough 
hand. 

^^We have heard the wonderful stories about the 
sun and moon and stars," he said, turning toward the 
astronomer, ^^ until we wonder for a moment how men 
can concern themselves with the trivialities of daily 
life; and then we come down from the clouds with a 
rush and realize that our chief concern after all is 
with dear old Mother Earth. 

**I am a geologist,'' he explained. **I love every 
rock on this magnificent earth. They tell me stories 
3 23 



WONDER STORIES 



more wonderful than the magic wands of the Fairy 
Tales. And one of the secrets that the rocks have 
whispered to me, I am going to tell yon now. It is 
this: How old is Mother Earth! One of onr eminent 
American scientists, Professor William Morris Davis, 
of Harvard, computes that it is 60,000,000 years old, 
basing his calculation on the ascertained time required 
for certain geological processes. Professor Thomas 
Gr. Chamberlin, of Chicago, goes as high as 400,000,000 
years, and he is followed by many famous geologists. 
M. Rosier, the French scientist, places the figure as 
high as a billion.'' 

The Story-tellers listened with rapt attention as 
the geologist spoke. 

^'So our good old Mother Earth is no young, un- 
sophisticated thing," he ventured, facetiously. *^She 
is old enough to know what she is about. Now, what 
is her weight? It has been calculated at about 6,100,- 
000,000,000 tons. Suppose we wished, like Archimedes, 
to move this enormous mass. We might build a 
10,000 horse-power engine and place it on Mars. Then 
we must keep it working for 70 billion years. At the 
end of that time, we should feel somewhat discour- 
aged, for the earth would have budged just one foot." 

The listeners laughed at the absurd but illuminat- 
ing idea. 

^^And, now," remarked the geologist, *^how many 
of us are there in the family of Mother Earth? Ac- 
cording to the last estimate she had over a billion and 
a half children still living. This gives twenty-nine 
persons to the square mile. It has been estimated that at 
the death of the Emperor Augustus, nineteen hundred 
years ago, there were only 54,000,000 persons living 
in the world — the present population of Japan alone. 
You can estimate from this what the population of the 
earth may be a thousand years from now. Only about 

24 



STORY OF THE EARTH 



one-twentieth part of the world's inhabitants live in 
large towns and cities ; nineteen-twentieths live in the 
hundreds of thousands of scattered villages." 

^^What is inside of the earth!" asked an inquisi- 
tive woman at the further end of the table. 

^^That is something for you to find out," replied 
the geologist, tauntingly. ^' There are many in- 
genious theories. One is that the earth is hollow and 
contains another world, embracing all the features 
familiar to us here. It is suggested that the entrances 
of this underworld are at the north and south poles, 
and that the Aurora Borealis is the reflection of a sub- 
terranean prairie on fire, while the dust encountered 
in the Arctic regions flies from subterranean vol- 
canoes." 

'^Do you really believe it?" asked the woman in- 
credulously. 

^'Well," answered the geologist, *^I am neither 
prepared to affirm nor deny it. One thing is certain — 
the deeper one goes, the hotter it gets. So much has 
been proved in mining. The temperature rises about 
one degree for every sixty feet of depth. Of course, 
it does not follow that this rate of increase continues 
indefinitely. But it is generally agreed that the cen- 
ter of the earth has a temperature of from 3,300 to 
700,000 degrees. It is usually assumed, on account of 
the enormous heat, that the interior of the earth con- 
sists of some kind of fluid. However, many eminent 
scientists contend otherwise, maintaining that it is as 
solid as glass, or even steel. 

**My friend, Camille Flammarion, the famous 
French savant, recently suggested a plan for sinking 
a shaft to the earth's center, with the help of the 
standing armies of Europe. We should think they 
would rather go to war. A spiral railway has also 
been suggested, running on a sharp grade, with a 

25 



WONDER STORIES 



shaft a thousand feet in diameter. The project of a 
submarine tunnel between America and Europe seems 
quite feasible in comparison; especially when we con- 
sider it is estimated that to sink a shaft only twelve 
miles would cost $25,000,000; the distance to the 
earth's center is 4,000 miles." 

''Could the interior heat of the earth be utilized!" 
inquired the engineer who sat near the door. 

''It has been. suggested that it might be converted 
into electricity," replied the geologist. "At a depth of 
8,000 feet, boiling water is found; and at greater 
depths the hardest substances would melt. But we are 
warned that, should we draw off this heat by artificial 
means, we should accelerate the cooling of the earth 
and so hasten its dissolution ; that it would cave in and 
consume us, with all our genius. 

"We like to think of the stability of our planet 
home," remarked the Story-teller, "but scientists re- 
mind us that the earth has no fewer than twelve dis- 
tinct movements. More than this, it wabbles occa- 
sionally. One result of this wabbling is that the poles 
are never in exactly the same spot for any very long 
time. The North Pole shifts its position, sometimes 
by a yard in a month, sometimes more. By the end 
of six months, it has described an irregular semi- 
circle. If Peary went back to the pole now, he would 
probably have to shift his flag a few feet, if he wanted 
it to stand on the exact position of the North Pole." 

"What would happen, if the earth were to stop 
moving suddenly?" 

"I fear it would be a big jolt," said the geologist. 
"It would be so big as to be beyond imagination. Cer- 
tainly, everything on the surface of the globe would 
be hurled into space. Not only that, but a heat would 
be generated sufficient to turn the ocean into steam, 
and to kill all life instantaneously." 

26 



STORY OF THE EARTH 



He turned to the globe and slowly revolved it on 
its axis. 

^^ Beloved old Mother Earth is quite a substantial 
body/^ he said, patting it gently. ^^The diameter of 
the earth is nearly 8,000 miles; the circumference 
nearly 25,000 miles. There are 52,000,000 square miles 
of land, and 145,000,000 of water. It has remained for 
American genius and courage to reveal many of her 
secrets. It was the daring American explorer, Ad- 
miral Eobert E. Peary, who discovered the North Pole 
on the 6th of April, 1909, and the apex of the earth. It 
was a Norwegian explorer, Koald Amundsen, who first 
reached the South Pole, on the 14th of December, 1911. 
A glance at the globe seems to show that the whole 
earth has been traversed and parceled out. But there 
is still enough to test human courage. It is roughly 
estimated that about 7,000,000 square miles, nearly one- 
seventh of the total land surface of the earth, is still 
terra incognita — unknown ground. 

*^What of the future? My good friends, our earth 
is only in its prime. The great internal convulsions 
and earthquakes and volcanoes, to which it is subject, 
prove it to be still full of vigorous life. When these 
phenomena cease to appear, we are warned that it v/ill 
be the beginning of the end. There are no such catas- 
trophes on the dead moon. The scientists give us the 
comforting assurance that our planet has yet two and 
a half billion years of life. How its inhabitants, at 
their present rate of increase, will fare, we cannot 
even conjecture. But may it all be fair with them; 
may they, like us, enjoy the beauties and wonders of 
this grand old world; and may they complete the 
glorious brotherhood which we have only begun. ' ' 



27 



THE STORY OF THE STATESMAN AXD 
THE COUNTRY IX WHICH WE LIVE 



THE familiar notes of a song echoed from behind 
the closed doors. Londer and londer it rose, 
until the melody, sweet and clear, rang ont on 
the evening air: 

"My country, 'tis of thee, 
Sweet land of Liberty, 

Of thee I sing; 
Land where my fathers died, 
Land of the Pilgrims' pride, 
From every mountain-side 
Let Freedom ring." 

The library door swnng open, and a brilliant 
scene lay before the vision. The room was literally 
bnried in flowers. Over the arch hung an American 
flag. The walls were draped with the national 
colors — red, white and blue. 

Standing in the center of an enthusiastic group 
was an elderly gentleman of distinguished appear- 
ance. His silk hat lay near-by on the reading table. 
As he began to speak there was an intense depth of 
emotion in his voice. 

^^I have been deeply interested,'' he said, ^4n the 
wonder stories which my friends have related. They 
have told us about the miracles of the heavens, which 
have existed ages before mankind was created. I will 
tell you an equally wonderful story about a miracle 
which has existed but little more than a century and 
which did not begin until nearly eighteen hundred 
years after Christ appeared on earth. 

28 



STORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



^^My story,'' he said, impressively, ^4s about our 
wonderful republic — the world's first example of na- 
tional self-government. Did you know that the United 
States began the twentieth century as the largest re- 
public in the world, in area, population, and wealth? 
Do you know that within the states of our Union you 
could place sixty Englands; that it would hold one 
hundred Scotlands? Do you realize that this vast 
territory of states would cover nineteen Japans, and 
twelve Germanys ; that France could be lost in one of 
its states? If you do, then you will agree with me 
when I say that its development is the miracle of 
modern civilization." 

•'These graphic comparisons, of course, are based 
on the area of the United States with their 3,616,484 
square miles, and do not include the colonial posses- 
sions of any of the countries?" interrupted a 
geographer. 

''That is quite true," replied the speaker. "I 
speak only of our brotherhood of forty-eight states 
and do not include the colonies of our sister nations. 
I refer only to them as a homogeneous people." 

It may be well to state here that the distinguished 
personage who was telling this story was a states- 
man whose countenance is familiar to every American. 

"It is the marvelous and consistent westward 
march of this republic," resumed the statesman, "that 
has forced the world's admiration. It has never be- 
fore witnessed such a rapid spread of civilization as 
that which has taken place in the New World. When 
our first National Congress assembled in New York, 
the center of population was said to be in the mid- 
dle of Chesapeake Bay, about twenty-three miles from 
Baltimore. About 110 years later, it had traveled 
westward into the heart of Indiana, a distance of 523 
miles ! When Washington became our first President, 

29 



WONDER STORIES 



lie was the chief executive over a region containing 
little more than 800,000 square miles of land, many 
small communities, and vast numbers of wild beasts 
and aborigines. President Wilson, our twenty-eighth 
president, presides over a dominion of wealth and 
culture, cities and states, five times greater in area 
than did the Father of our country. Down in the 
great Southwest is a single commonwealth, Texas, 
which could easily hold the six central American Re- 
publics and still have room for the countries of Den- 
mark, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, and the 
German principalities of Baden and Brunswick. Re- 
member, this is only one of the forty-eight political 
divisions of our nation. 

*^Let us look at our country in another way," sug- 
gested the Story-teller. ^'Suppose, for sake of illus- 
tration, that another great flood inundated the world. 
Suppose that only our own country should be saved 
as a modern Mount Ararat of the earth. This, then, 
would be the refuge of all the world's people, irrespec- 
tive of color or race, language, sex, or age. I must 
confess that we all would be slightly crowded, but still 
there is area enough to give each individual more than 
an acre on which to rehabilitate his fortunes. If our 
Chinese and Russian friends desired a section of their 
own, they could be accommodated within the area of 
the thirteen original states which formed the begin- 
ning of this nation. 

**I have said that our republic is the richest in the 
world," continued the statesman. **It has risen from 
poverty. The world is now paying tribute to us for 
the mighty Panama Canal, constructed by American 
muscle and genius, and by $375,000,000 of American 
wealth. But did you know that only a few decades 
ago our government had to borrow from the states of 
Maryland and Virginia the money with which to meet 

30 



STORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



the payroll of the builders of our National Capitol? 
We have risen from a nation which produced hardly 
enough supplies to feed its own people to a mighty 
trading nation which now sends abroad annually pro- 
ducts whose value exceeds that of any other nation. 
Though our republic occupies only a twentieth part of 
the civilized land area of the earth, it produces four- 
fifths of its corn, two-thirds of its cotton, more than a 
half of its petroleum ; it produces half of its steel, one- 
third of its coal, one-third of its manufactured goods, 
one-fourth of its gold, and one-fifth of its wheat. 

*^The rise of the American nation is the wonder of 
wonder stories. Within the span of the lives of people 
still living, it has come forward like a young knight in 
the tournament of nations. To-day, it is served by a 
third of the world's railway systems, as well as by a 
third of its telegraph wires. It distributes a third of 
its mail matter, wields a third of its banking power, 
and publishes more than a half of its periodicals. 

* ^ The wealth of our nation is founded on its strate- 
gic position,'' declared the speaker. *' Ships of ail 
nations seek the seaports situated on our great coast- 
line. If this coast-line were straightened out, it would 
reach nearly half way around the earth. Our navi- 
gable rivers, some 300 in number, if drawn out into 
one continuous stream, would form a girdle around 
the earth at the equator which would overlap itself by 
at least a thousand miles. And then our mountains, 
our glorious rocky barriers, what unsurpassed wealth 
is stored in their bosoms ! There are only eight states 
in our Union whose citizens would have to go out of 
their boundaries to find an altitude of at least 1,000 
feet above sea-level. There are thirty-three states and 
territories wherein mountain crests loom more than a 
half a mile above the sea. ' ' 

^^The rise of the American cities is a story of ro- 

31 



WONDER STORIES 



mance," continued the statesman. ^'Washington was 
virtually the President of a vast farm. When he be- 
came our first Chief Executive, there were forty 
Americans living in rural districts to every one resid- 
ing within cities of over 8,000 population. In our day, 
the total population is about equally divided between 
the urban and the rural districts. To-day more than 
50,000 cities, towns, villages and hamlets make up the 
American nation. 

^'I Y\^ill not tell you about the operation of the 
government under which we live, for I understand that 
you are soon to listen to a Congressman," exclaimed 
the Story-teller. ^^But I would impress you with the 
fact that the real greatness of our country lies neither 
in its lands or riches. It lies in its citizenship and the 
character and wisdom of the men whom we choose to 
administer our laws. This nation must rise or fall on 
the conduct and character of its men and women. We 
must remember always that we stand before the world 
as a great democracy ; we proclaim liberty and justice. 
In our hearts must ever ring the immortal words of 
Lincoln : ' It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the 
great task remaining before us , . . that this 
nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom ; 
and that government of the people, by the people, for 
the people, shall not perish from the earth. ' ' ' 

The statesman hesitated a moment. Then, out- 
stretching his arms, he spoke fervidly. 

*^My beloved fellow- Americans," he said, **my 
day is nearly done. I belong to the passing genera- 
tion. The republic which I have loved and served is 
now in your hands. I appeal to you to hold the trust 
sacred. May 3^ou guide this American Nation into the 
new epoch when love and justice shall rule the world. 
May the All-wise Providence give you wisdom." 



32 



THE STORY OF THE CONGRESSMAN 
AND GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE 



THE messenger from the Government hurried 
into the Story-tellers' Clnb. He bore a message 
in an official envelope. The Librarian tore it 
open and read its contents. 

*^Good news!'' he exclaimed, turning to those who 
had gathered about him. ^'The Government official 
is on his way. He will be with us in a few minutes." 

The arrival of the guest of the evening was attended 
with much ceremony. He extended greetings from 
the President and then proceeded to relate his story. 

^^My narrative," he said, ^'is the romance of the 
business of government. It is a gigantic organization — 
a huge machine to operate, which requires genius 
equal to that of the greatest scientists. To operate 
this business machinery requires more than a half 
million Americans, who spend in a thousand ways 
the huge sum of more than a billion dollars each year. 
The balance of the total sum is distributed dowm 
through the state, the county, and the city and town 
governments in such a way as to bring the greatest 
good to the greatest number. 

*^What do you think every American pays on the 
average for the comfort, convenience, and security 
given him under America's modern civilization?" 

He had gained the rapt attention of his auditors 
from the beginning. 

*^The insignificant sum of twenty-eight dollars a 
year!" he announced. *^It sounds ridiculously small — 

33 



WONDER STORIES 



and yet the Americans together pay annually a sum 
larger than that at which the United Kingdom values 
her exported merchandise for twelve months. This vast 
sum is gathered and distributed through a myriad 
channels, the greatest of which is the national govern- 
ment. Unlike the older governments, which are largely 
mere collectors of taxes and wagers of war, our mod- 
ern government aids its people in the creation of 
wealth and the progress of culture. Its operations 
range through a thousand phases; it conducts one of 
the greatest corporations on earth — the post-office; 
it is a patron of art. It is a builder of almost every- 
thing, from a submarine boat, which, with its human 
freight, crawls along the bottom of the sea, to weigh- 
ing machines which register the millionth part of the 
grain ; from flying kites to building mighty canals ; 
from making maps of the seas, the mountains, or the 
forests to coining money." 

The government official raised his forefinger in 
emphasis. 

* ^ Fellow-citizens, " he declared, '^the world has 
never witnessed such a Titanic business corporation 
as the United States Government. No one mortal has 
ever been invested with such tremendous power and 
responsibility as is our President. Surrounding him 
are the Cabinet members — the secretaries of State, of 
the Treasury, of War, of the Interior, of the Navy, of 
Agriculture, of Commerce, of Labor, and the Post- 
master-General and the Attorney-General. In addition 
to these are the Vice-President and the members of the 
Senate and the House of Eepresentatives. Behind 
these are the governors and lieutenant-governors and 
legislatures of the forty-eight states and three terri- 
tories. The state legislatures represent the towns in 
each commonwealth. Each city, town, village and 
borough has its own local government. 

34 



STORY OF GOVERNMENT 



^^Let us see what this mighty host is doing in times 
of peace,'' said the Government official. *^ First there 
is the Department of State, whose Secretary is a po- 
tential President of the nation — providing both the 
President and Vice-President die during their terms 
of administration. This great department maintains 
archives that contain secret documents, which, if 
spread for public gaze, would precipitate the whole 
civilized world into turmoil and war. It conducts a 
bureau of information for the manufacturer and the 
merchant, which requires a corps of agents in all the 
world's centers of industry to gather the trade needs 
of each country. 

^^Then there is the Treasury Department, which 
finances the nation. Among its manifold duties is 
that of the money-maker; it is the storehouse of all 
its reserve golden wealth. There was, in the year 
Woodrow Wilson was elected to the presidency, enough 
cash in the United States Treasury to equal the value 
of merchandise which both France and Eussia ex- 
ported to all parts of the world in the same year. Do 
you realize what this department means to every 
American! Consider what would happen if it closed 
the doors of its mints and its treasuries! It would 
disrupt and throw the whole commercial world into 
panic. 

*^We must visit the Department of War. Contrary 
to its name, it is not wholly created as a destructive 
force; it is also constructive in the highest sense of 
the word. In times of peace, its highly trained officers 
and men are devoting their time and ingenuity in a 
large part to aiding the people. Its labors range from 
improving the rivers and harbors of the nation to 
digging the mighty Panama Canal, feeding the Indians 
of Alaska and elsewhere, or rescuing citizens from 
burning cities or flooded districts. 

35 



WONDER STORIES 



'^The Department of Justice fulfills the traditions 
of its name. It has its hand in nearly all public and 
sometimes private affairs. It guards the public 
against fraudulent practices by corporations, banks, 
and individuals. It extends its hand into the prisons 
of the country to see that each prisoner receives 
proper treatment consistent with the penal laws of 
the nation. 

^ ^ The largest department of the Government is the 
Post-office. It conducts one-third of the world's pos- 
tal business, delivering its mail matter over more miles 
than any other two nations combined. It has more 
post-offices throughout the country than there were 
dwellings in the two states of Wyoming and Nevada, 
in 1910. Every dwelling within the thickly populated 
District of Columbia could be replaced with the post- 
offices of the United States. 

^^ There is something picturesque about the title 
Navy Department. It conjures pictures of mighty 
warships — there are more than three hundred belong- 
ing to the United States Navy — and flashing guns. 
But the Navy Department, like its brother department 
of war, is not devoted to war alone. Its peculiar duties 
range from setting the electric clocks of the nation each 
noon to testing mariners' compasses and suggesting 
new sea-routes. It warns sailors of the location of dan- 
gerous derelicts and icebergs, the location of coal and 
food supply depots, and even tells the trading skipper 
where he is likely to find a suitable cargo for profit. 

*^The duties of the Department of the Interior are 
varied and unique. They range from making the lot 
of the Indian much easier to granting patents for new 
inventions, granting pensions and bounties, and re- 
claiming the arid wastes of the nation. They include 
selling land to homesteaders, clothing naked hillsides 
with new forests, and supervising the education of 

36 



STORY OF GOVERNMENT 



the nation, as well as examining the quality of coal 
and its most economical use in the home or in industry. 

' ^ Then there are the Departments of Commerce and 
Labor, which show the American merchant or manu- 
facturer where he can sell his goods to the best ad- 
vantage abroad, and where he can buy them best and 
cheapest. This information they impart partially 
through the government's only daily journal, sent 
broadcast to the miners, shippers, transportation, 
manufacturing, fishery, and labor interests. Another 
of the duties is to test the weights and measures of 
the nation, and to establish standards by which an inch 
can be divided into millionth parts, or by which ma- 
chines will register a strain of ten million pounds. 

^^But it is in the Department of Agriculture that 
perhaps the average American is most greatly in- 
terested. Here everything that comes within the 
scope of agricultural and animal industry is digested 
and distributed throughout the nation. One bureau 
of the department keeps benevolent watch over the 
mariner by warning him of approaching storms and 
detaining him in port until the storm has passed ; an- 
other grows small fish, called ^fry,' with which to re- 
stock the rivers and lakes of the country; another 
sends, among other things, small microbes to the 
farmer with which to inoculate the soil and thus in- 
crease its fertility; another will send silk-worm eggs 
to the prospective silk raiser, or will supply the agri- 
culturist with predaceous beetles to eat the pestiferous 
bugs ; another will test your soil and tell you what is 
the best crop to grow thereon; and still another will 
supply you with little bottles of antitoxin to cure your 
pet animal of disease. 

*^This will give you some idea of what your govern- 
ment is doing for you every day at a cost of less than 
eight cents a day to each individual. ' ' 

37 



THE STORY OF THE RAILROAD— THE 
FORERUNNER OF MODERN PROGRESS 



SITTING- near one of the library windows, a digni- 
fied gentleman had been attentively listening to 
every word spoken by the Story-tellers. He had 
frequently given approval by nodding his head. Ris- 
ing, he leaned heavily against the table. 

^^ Never before in my life,'' he began impressively, 
'*have I so fully realized the magnitude and the 
beauty of the marvelous world in which we live and 
work. In these interesting stories I have witnessed 
the creation of the earth, the sun, the moon, and the 
stars and heard of the conquest of the seas. But it 
remains for my story to prove the miracle that makes 
this great nation possible — the story of the rail- 
roads." 

The speaker stood erect with his hands clasped be- 
hind him. 

^*The story of the railroads,'' he said, ^4s a story 
of romance, romance founded on hard, cold fact. It 
is the story of that modern miracle which, begun about 
three generations ago, is to-day that annihilator of 
space to which Macaulay no doubt referred. You will 
recall that he said, * Of all inventions, the alphabet and 
printing-press excepted, those inventions which 
abridge distances have done most for the civilization 
of the species.' Every American is aware that the 
railroad does * abridge distances,' as he travels about 

38 



STORY OF THE RAILROAD 



the country in luxuriously appointed railroad trains 
at the rate of sixty, seventy, or even ninety miles an 
hour. 

^*I do not believe that the average American fully 
appreciates what a mighty railroad system he has in 
this country,'* continued the railroad magnate. 
** While the Story-teller was telling us about the vast 
distances of the planets, I, unconsciously perhaps, be- 
gan comparing them with our modern Ajnerican rail- 
roads, and here is what I found. If all the main track 
railways in the United States in 1910 were welded into 
one continuous system, it would reach to and extend 
a distance of 100,000 miles beyond the moon, which, 
the selenographer told us, is some quarter of a million 
miles away from our earth. Now let me present this 
in a way that is probably more comprehensible to the 
average person. If this main track railway system 
were laid around the earth at the equator, it would 
form nine tracks of equal length, over which nine of 
the fastest engines, traveling at the topmost speed 
ever attained (115 miles an hour) would complete the 
circuit in about nine days. 

*^0f course,'* continued the speaker, '*you realize 
that the rails of a railroad are but a single item in its 
equipment. Do you realize what mighty forests have 
been cut down to supply the ties on which the rails 
rest? If it were necessary to transport all these ties 
to Europe at any time — there are about 900,000,000 of 
them — ^it would require the services of the entire 
United States merchant marine, sailing and steam ves- 
sels included, and each ship would carry a cargo con- 
sisting of 34,000 each — a respectable sized cargo, I 
might add. And then the spikes which secure the 
rails to the ties — ^there were enough in 1910 to supply 
each living individual on earth with two apiece." 

These startling facts presented so graphically and 

39 



WONDER STORIES 



by comparisons which they easily understood, amazed 
the listeners. One asked: 

^^How many cars are there — I mean passenger and 
freight cars?'' 

The railroad man referred to some notes upon the 
table. 

^'I find," he answered, ^'that there are enough to 
give one to every inhabitant living in Norway; or 
enough to form a grand pageant on the railway to the 
moon which I mentioned a moment ago, allowing ten 
cars to every mile of track. Of course this repre- 
sents all kinds of cars. There are some cars which 
we would not care to give away, as you will under- 
stand when I say that modern passenger coaches cost 
from $8,000 to $16,000 each, and that the luxurious 
Pullmans sometimes cost as much as $30,000 apiece." 

^'Why, that is more than I charge for a model 
suburban home!" exclaimed the architect. 

The railroad magnate smiled, and then continued : 

'^I think that from the few foregoing statistics you 
will understand the magnitude of the American rail- 
road. If not, I will state that it comprises one-third 
of the world's entire railways, requires nearly two 
million persons to operate it, carried passengers equal- 
ing in number nearly a half of the entire population of 
the earth in 1910, and in the same year paid dividends 
which exceeded by more than $100,000,000 the amount 
of money which the people of Switzerland had in their 
communal and private banks." 

The Story-tellers glanced at each other in astonish- 
ment as these amazing facts were sketched with quick- 
fire rapidity. The speaker then began on another 
phase of the American railroads, saying: 

*^A11 these facts are the more marvelous when we 
consider that the railroad had its birth but about three 
generations ago, beginning historically with the pio- 

40 



STORY OF THE RAILROAD 



neer steam railway stretching fifteen miles westward 
from Baltimore, and in the same year that Webster 
first published his dictionary (1828). There were other 
railroads in the United States at that time, notably 
the one in Massachusetts which, operated by horse- 
power, drew granite from the quarries at Quincy to 
the Neponset River. 

*^In the light of present-day achievements, it is 
curious to learn that the railroad was considered in 
its beginning as something similar to a circus freak, 
that few men were so venturesome as to admit that 
it ever could successfully compete with canals, the 
favorite of that day, for freighting purposes. It was 
the state engineer of Virginia who solemnly declared 
*that a rate of speed of more than six miles an hour 
would exceed the bounds of prudence, though some 
sanguinary advocates of railways extend this limit to 
nine miles an hour!' Considering the appearance of 
a railroad train of those days, we can hardly criticize 
the Virginian's pessimism. Some among you prob- 
ably remember your fathers' descriptions of the 
early trains, appearing like a series of stage-coaches 
mounted on grooved wheels and drawn by what re- 
sembled the modern farmer's wood-cutting engine, 
also mounted on wheels and shooting out of its blun- 
derbuss smoke-stack a terrifying stream of flame and 
wood ashes. 

*^I doubt," said the railroad man, ^^if the average 
American traveler, seated within an electrically 
lighted car and virtually leaping across the continent 
at lightning speed, ever considers what his grand- 
parents had to put up with in the way of transpor- 
tation before the birth of the railroad ; or that, before 
the nineteenth century, mankind had to depend upon 
their own feet, or the back of a horse, or, in some more 
favored cases, upon a wheeled vehicle, to traverse the 

41 



WONDER STORIES 



earth. "When I say that when Napoleon hurried his 
armies over the Alps just before the dawn of the 
nineteenth century, he used about the same means of 
transportation and did not exceed the speed made by 
his illustrious predecessor, Caesar, over the same route 
with his Roman army in the days preceding Christ's 
appearance on earth, you will understand what the 
railroad means to modem civilization. 

**The benefits accruing to the Americans from their 
railroads are too numerous and varied to enumerate. 
When we reduce the time of travel between cities we 
virtually are reducing the distance. At the begin- 
ning of the American Revolution, it required about 
thirteen days of laborious and perilous travel to go 
from New York to Boston. In this time the modern 
traveler could make the round trip between New York 
and San Francisco and still have a week left over in 
which to view either of the great cities. Then it re- 
quired about thirty days to travel from Baltimore to 
New Orleans ; to-day it is a journey of as many hours. 
From Massachusetts to North Carolina the modern 
train schedule is ^twenty hours,' instead of 'days.' " 

The speaker's tones now became deliberate and 
incisive, as he continued: 

*' Nowhere on earth has the miracle of the railroad 
been felt more than in the United States. It required 
about two and a half centuries for American civiliza- 
tion to extend inland from the Atlantic to the banks 
of the Missouri River, virtually traversing the dis- 
tance afoot, or at best, on horseback. But with the 
aid of the railroad, after it had come into general use, 
it swept on over the Missouri and within a few decades 
had converted the forbidding wilderness to the west- 
ward into a domain of prodigious wealth and culture, 
carrying colonization to the shores of the Pacific. ' ' 



42 



THE STORY OF THE EMPIRE BUILDERS 
WHO AWAKENED A CONTINENT 



HE looked strong enough to hold the earth on his 
shoulders. Six feet tall, with a massive head 
and a deep, gruff voice, his great chest expanded 
as he spoke. 

*^They call me an * empire-builder,' " he said. **I 
claim no such distinction. I am a promoter, a pro- 
moter of great schemes that sound like dreams but 
suddenly burst into realities that astound the world. 

* ^ My story, ' ' he continued, ^ ' is the tale of the Great 
West. In it the forests become great cities ; the waste 
lands pour out abundant riches; the desolate plains 
become peopled by the multitudes. Out of a vast 
Western wilderness, scorned by the greatest states- 
men of the day, there has been wrought one of the 
greatest of modern miracles. Darkest Africa held no 
more forbidding dominion than lay beyond the banks 
of the Missouri River in these United States a gen- 
eration ago. It took bold spirits to dare to brave the 
storms of ridicule when it was first suggested that the 
rivers and mountains be spanned by steel rails. In 
the year 1845, a year before the boundary between 
the United States and British Columbia was settled, 
a man named Asa Whitney petitioned Congress in 
behalf of a steam road, closing his address with the 
prophetic words : * You will see that it will change the 
whole world.' 

**This challenge aroused the ridicule of the states- 
men. Senator Dickerson, from New Jersey, had in 

43 



WONDER STORIES 



a previous session caused the tabling of a bill which 
favored making Oregon a state. ^It is absurd/ he 
said. ^Why, a member of Congress traveling from 
his home in Oregon to Washington and return, would 
cover a distance of 9,200 miles, at the rate of thirty 
miles per day. Allowing him forty-four days for Sun- 
days, three hundred and fifty days would be consumed, 
and the member would have fourteen days in Wash- 
ington before he started home. It would be quicker 
to come around Cape Horn or by Behring Straits, 
Baffin Bay, and Davis Strait to the Atlantic, and so 
to Washington. True, the passage is not yet discov- 
ered, except upon our maps, but it will be as soon as 
Oregon is made a state!' 

^^Do you know,'' ventured the Story-teller, **that 
no one seemed to believe in the possibilities of the 
great Western dominion of the United States? Even 
those men who had penetrated the heart of the wilder- 
ness had no encouraging words for it. We find the 
doughty discoverer. Pike, for whom * Pike's Peak' was 
later named, officially advising the government that 
the region was incapable of cultivation,' and that per- 
force Americans must confine themselves to the banks 
of the Missouri and Mississippi. The Great West by 
consensus of opinion seemed doomed to exile from 
civilization. 

*^But in all ages there are a few men with the 
courage of their convictions. They launched an expe- 
dition into the unknown region to determine suitable 
routes for a * transcontinental railroad'! This private 
exploration began in 1853 under the auspices of Jef- 
ferson Davis, then the Secretary of War. Ten years 
later Lincoln dispatched General Grenville M. Dodge 
to take definite surveys for the Pacific railroad. There 
were then only twenty-six and one-half miles of rail- 
road west of the Missouri River. The government 

44 



STORY OF THE GREAT WEST 



was paying at the rate of $40 per ton for every hun- 
dred miles to have supplies carted by wagon train to 
army posts, and there were scarcely any settlements, 
excepting those devoted to trapping or mining. 

^'The bloody battle of Chickamauga and Chatta- 
nooga appalled the nation with its sanguinary cost in 
1863. About that time, two bodies of workmen, one 
in San Francisco and the other at Omaha on the Mis- 
souri River, broke earth and began the great task of 
laying the first transcontinental railroad through the 
wilderness. The public was skeptical of success. The 
financiers of the work were called foolhardy, if not 
worse. Even the workmen on the western end of the 
road had so little faith in the project that they de- 
manded their day's pay before they would work. 

*^ These discouragements were increased by the 
awful truth that every man employed upon the work 
was in danger of his life, day and night. The Indians 
did not take kindly to the idea and did their best to 
kill off the workmen and surveyors. A constant guard 
of soldiers was required. The region for the most 
part was destitute of timber or fuel, and these had to 
be freighted by steamboat and wagon train. It was 
a prodigious undertaking, putting American courage 
to the test, as it never had been before. 

*^Less than six years after the epochal work had 
begun the miracle had been accomplished — the Great 
Ajnerican Desert had been spanned. The East was 
bound to the West in a union which was to yield vast 
wealth and power to both. The scoffers ceased to 
scoif, and the whole nation arose in jubilee. Some of 
the larger cities devoted the historic day — May 10, 
1869 — to a holiday of rejoicing. 

** There never has been another celebration like it," 
exclaimed the empire-builder. Out on Promontory 
Mountain there existed but a single gap in the line — 

45 



WONDER STORIES 



a gap of one hundred feet. Sturdy bodies of work- 
men stood ready to lay the last rails. The builders 
of the road, whose indomitable courage had made it 
possible, gathered to witness the historic occasion. 
Telegraph wires were connected so that the news of 
the blows of the sledges could be flashed to all parts 
of the United States simultaneously. 

** Three spikes of precious metal were selected to 
close the connecting link; one was of silver, gold, and 
iron from Arizona; another of silver from Nevada; 
and the third of gold from California. Beside the 
track stood President Stanford, president of the rail- 
road and governor of California. In his hands he 
held a silver sledge, ready to deliver the first stroke. 
The second blow was struck by Vice-President Durant ; 
succeeding blows were struck by distinguished guests, 
until finally the spikes were driven home by the chief 
engineers of the two roads. Two railroad engines, 
which had been waiting for the welding of the tracks, 
advanced, and the engineers joined hands with each 
other as they came together. 

^^The nation could hardly restrain its joy. In San 
Francisco the blows of the sledge were repeated by 
strokes on the city hall bell, and the last blow was a 
signal for the firing of a cannon from Fort Point. It 
was a gala day for the Pacific metropolis, which had 
thus been virtually lifted and placed within a three 
days^ journey of the Atlantic coast, instead of three 
months. Omaha was raised from a frontier post to a 
great half-way point between the East and the West; 
its citizens gave vent to their joy in monster parades 
of all its civic organizations, while a hundred guns 
boomed on Capitol Hill. Chicago held a procession 
more than four miles in length. New York fired a 
salute of a hundred guns, while in Philadelphia the 
historic tones of the bells on Independence Hall rang 

46 



STORY OF THE GREAT WEST 

out the glad tidings. It was a great national event, 
in which all the large cities joined in memorable 
demonstration. 

**My friends," continued the Story-teller, '*no man 
at that time had any comprehension of the great 
empire of wealth which was to arise on sand and 
wilderness. It was hardly conceived that great cities 
might spring up along the way. There was one ex- 
ception: it was Asa Whitney, whose prophecy has 
come true in the space of a few decades, and *the rail- 
road has changed the whole world' in many respects. 
It gave Europe a means to send its goods to the 
Pacific coast. It opened an avenue for the silks and 
spices of the Orient to reach the Atlantic states. It 
served as a pattern for the great transcontinental 
railroads which now exist across Europe and Asia, 
and which are being built even through the heart 
of Africa. 

^^But the greatest change came when the once 
despised Great American Desert blossomed into the 
great granary of modern civilization. Mighty com- 
monwealths arose as if by magic. It will be remem- 
bered that, when this territory was bought from 
France for the sum of $15,000,000 in 1803, the states- 
men raved for decades about the wicked extravagance. 
Could they have looked through the curtain of the 
future, and seen the great cargoes of produce being 
brought out of this * wilderness,' their rantings would 
have changed to paeans of joy. From the single state 
of Nebraska, bordering on the Missouri Kiver, the 
crop of alfalfa hay alone equaled in value in a single 
year the amount of money Napoleon received from the 
United States for the Louisiana Territory. 

**Let us take a hasty tour through these states 
west of the Missouri River and see what they are 
doing to repay the price of their birthright. First on 

47 



WONDER STORIES 



the tour is Nebraska. Looking in her tax books, we 
find that the real and personal property in this com- 
monwealth is valued at $600,000,000 — and this is based 
on a one-fifth valuation; in other words, Hhat region 
of savages and wild beasts,' as Daniel Webster called 
it, is worth three billion dollars. Next comes Kansas, 
the treeless plain,' which in a single year produces 
farm products and live stock valued at nearly 
$500,000,000. Adjoining is Colorado, once the despair 
of statesmen, which in the space of a half century has 
disgorged from her beautiful mountains more than a 
billion dollars in gold, silver, lead and copper; and 
still, if all these mines were shut down, the state would 
be independently rich in her agricultural products. 

*^We will now visit the tier of states along the 
north. We find Wyoming, seamed with coal veins 
and saturated with oil, but still standing forth among 
the Western States as a mammoth producer of agri- 
cultural products and livestock, the former bringing 
in a recent year ten million dollars more than the 
whole Louisiana Territory cost the United States. 
Utah is a modern garden spot on which flourish great 
empires of sugar-beets, mammoth communities of bee- 
hives, sweet scented forests of fruit trees, while out of 
its bosom pour streams of gold, silver, copper, lead, 
zinc, and coal, whose total valuation in one year 
reached nearly twice the purchase price of the whole 
* wilderness.' Then there is rugged Idaho, which 
added in a single year nearly $100,000,000 to the wealth 
of the nation. Along the Canadian border is Montana, 
which digs from its bosom, and clips from its sheep, 
each year a fortune valued at more than $75,000,000. 

*^ Bordering the Pacific are three mighty common- 
wealths. Oregon, whose name was long mentioned in 
sarcastic terms in the National Congress, is to-day a 
cornucopia pouring forth its wealth. The value of 

48 



STORY OF THE GREAT WEST 

the lumber in its forests is estimated at the colossal 
figTire of $3,500,000,000. Oregonians tell you that 
^half the world comes to us for lumber.' Washington, 
a still younger state, is able to exhibit an overflowing 
exchequer. Her tax books show that in a recent 
year she had a total property valuation of nearly 
$800,000,000; she, too, is part of that ^rockbound, 
cheerless and uninviting coast,' which Daniel Webster, 
in a speech before the United States Senate, declared 
to be ^without value.' The third and last of these 
Pacific commonwealths, on our hasty journey, is 
bounteous California. It would seem unnecessary to 
recite the wealth of this state. Its taxable property 
alone is estimated at $2,300,000,000; and it pours out 
its riches in sums that stagger the imagination. 

*^This is but a cursory glimpse of a part of those 
commonwealths which lie west of the Missouri," said 
the empire-builder in closing. ^^This is the dominion 
which wise men once proclaimed to the world as 
* worthless.' This is the region that was pronounced 
from the seats of the mighty as a region of savages 
and wild beasts, of deserts, of shifting sands and 
whirling winds, of dust, of cactus and prairie dogs. 
This, my friends, is the modern miracle of empire- 
building. ' ' 



49 



THE STORY OF THE STEAMSHIP AND 
THE CONQUEST OF THE SEAS 



A WEATHER-BEATEN old fellow in a blue uni- 
form with gold braid sat in the big chair near 
the fire. His face was bronzed by the winds, 
and there was the odor of the salt sea abont him. 

**Let "Qs hear from the steamboat captain!'' 
shouted several voices. ^ ' Tell us the tale of the seas. '' 

The captain smiled genially. 

**I always like to hear you landlubbers talk,'' he 
said, **but every word you say makes me prouder 
than ever of the good old story of the seas. You may 
talk about your wonders, but the miracle of miracles 
is the great ocean greyhound. Without it, the na- 
tions of the world would still be groping in compara- 
tive ignorance, poverty and peril. With it, the world 
has been remodeled, reformed and enlightened. To- 
gether with that other great miracle, the railroad, it 
has formed a girdle around the earth. It has linked 
the continents so that man in safety and luxury can 
circumnavigate the globe to-day in about the same 
time it required post-riders to bring the news of the 
Battle of New Orleans to Washington a hundred years 
ago. It has, as if by magic, converted the great rivers 
of the world from mere streams of running water into 
vast throbbing highways of commerce and travel 
which are building up the wealth of nations and in- 
dividuals." 

The captain raised his hand in gesticulation. 

^*If all the ships sailing in the merchant marine of 

50 



STORY OF THE STEAMSHIP 



the United States were formed for review/' he said, 
^' there would be a grand pageant of more than twen- 
ty-six thousand vessels. More than half of them would 
be propelled by steam. This vast fleet of ships would 
have a combined gross tonnage or capacity of nearly 
eight million tons. 

^^The steamship,'' continued the captain, *'has 
proved the conqueror of the seas. G-reat leviathans, 
measuring nearly nine hundred feet in length, dash 
across the oceans at the rate of an express train. A 
mighty fleet of luxurious floating palaces plies between 
Europe and America at a. speed so great that a trav- 
eler can eat a farewell lunch in London on Saturday 
and dine in New York on the following Thursday. 
Less than a century ago there was not a steamboat 
afloat upon the open sea. Measured by the speed- 
standards of to-day, America was nearly seventy 
thousand miles away from Europe in the days of 
Henry Hudson. Or in other words, in the time re- 
quired by Hudson's Half Moon to sail from Amster- 
dam to New York, a modern ocean liner could sail a 
distance of nearly seventy thousand miles, or circle 
the globe nearly three times. 

**The story of man's early attempts to conquer the 
seas is more interesting than fiction. He first pad- 
dled across a stream on a log; later fastened two or 
more logs together to form a raft; then he hollowed 
out the log and made a ^dug-out.' Then came canoes 
made of bark or skins stretched over a framew^ork, 
and finally ships built by carpenters. The first use 
of oars as power began in the earliest Egyptian ves- 
sels, dating back to 1000 B. C. ; they had as many as 
twenty-two oarsmen on each side of the vessel. Then 
the Phoenicians added decks to their vessels. The 
height of shipbuilding seems to have been reached 
in the reign of Ptolemy Philopator, when tradition 

51 



WONDER STORIES 



tells about a forty-decked vessel, which registered 
11,320 tons. Then sails were added by the Phoeni- 
cians, to force the winds to relieve the muscles of the 
men at the oars. 

^'In the twelfth century there came an impulse 
which set the shipping circles agog, and the period of 
exploration began. It was the discovery and general 
adoption of the compass by Europeans. It is said, 
however, that the Chinese were familiar with the in- 
strument more than two thousand years before Christ. 
With this wonderful little instrument to guide their 
ships, the mariners became bolder and ventured out 
into the mysterious oceans. This resulted in the great 
discovery of the New World and other great voyages 
of exploration. Then began the tide of immigration 
into America. The voyage was one of peril, with 
death, starvation and sickness always present. It was 
a voyage which required on the average three months 
of extreme hardship. 

'^ Sails and oars served mankind well for many 
centuries, but now his needs demanded a new motive 
power. There were many weird and crude ideas sug- 
gested. One was to adapt the treadmill to a boat, 
worked by either man or beast and attached to paddle- 
wheels slung over the side of the vessel. These at- 
tempts to conquer the wind were met with storms of 
disapproval. The good people declared vehemently 
that it was sinful and ^ an insult to Divine Providence ' 
to drive a vessel against mnd and tide. The inven- 
tor's ideas were met with ridicule. 

'*It remained for the Americans to solve the prob- 
lem,'' said the sea captain. ^'Four patents were 
granted to inventors before the nation was two years 
old. The first of these was to John Fitch, who contrived 
a crude steam vessel, appearing much like a many- 
legged spider walking on water. His craft traveled 

52 



STORY OF THE STEAMSHIP 



up and down the Delaware River for three months in 
1793 at the rate of thirty miles in thirteen honrs. 
Eleven years later, Colonel John Stevens appeared 
on the Hudson Eiver with a twin-screw steamer which 
sped across the river at the rate of six miles an hour. 
Four years later, he startled the world by launching 
a paddle-wheel steamer and sailing through the open 
sea from New York to Philadelphia — the first success- 
ful attempt in the world of a steam driven vessel to 
ride the boundless ocean. 

^^It was in 1807 that the event occurred which was 
destined to point the way to the revolution of the 
world's commerce as well as the world's navies. It 
was in this year that the historic Clermont, the pro- 
duct of the brain and energy of Robert Fulton, was 
launched, amid jeers of ridicule and disbelief, at Cor- 
lears Hook Ferry and began her momentous voyage 
up the Hudson River to Albany. From stem to stern 
she measured about 150 feet, and was ^a monster 
moving on the water, defying winds and tides, and 
breathing smoke and flame.' Her motive power was 
furnished by a steam engine connected with paddle- 
wheels hung over her sides. The Clermont per- 
formed the miracle of traveling the 150 miles which 
lay between New York and Albany in the remarkable 
time of thirty- two hours. It would have required 
seventy-five days for the Clermont to cross the Atlan- 
tic Ocean. The fastest modern liner, six times as long 
and six times as broad, carrying 480 times as much 
freight and more than a thousand passengers, has 
crossed the Atlantic in four days, ten hours, and fifty- 
one minutes. 

*^The world was slow in placing faith in a new 
miracle of the seas. Five years elapsed from the 
launching of the Clermont before the first steam- 
driven ferry-boat crossed the Hudson between New 

53 



WONDER STORIES 



York and New Jersey; ten years before Boston saw 
the first steamboat enter her harbor; eleven years 
passed before the first steam vessel sailed from Buf- 
falo through the Great Lakes to Detroit; and it was 
twelve years before the first ship set forth npon the 
world's first transatlantic voyage under the power of 
steam. 

' * It was on the memorable day of the 26th of May, 
in 1819/' continued the Story-teller, ^Hhat the steam- 
ship Savannah, a sailing packet equipped with an en- 
gine, boiler, and iron paddlewheels, slipped from her 
moorings at Savannah, Georgia, and sailed down over 
the horizon. Twenty-five days later, a fleet of three- 
decked, wooden-sided and sail-propelled men-of-war 
and stately merchant ships, cruising off the coast of 
England, was startled at the apparition which ap- 
peared in the waters before them. Through a set of 
yellow sails came clouds of pitch pine and coal smoke. 
The decks of the watching ships resounded with the 
cry of *Fire!' When they read the signal flags of the 
Savannah, they were nonplussed to learn she was not 
afire, but was sailing under her new power — steam. 
They watched her curiously as she slipped gracefully 
by and headed in toward Liverpool. 

* ^ The story of the ocean steamships is the story of 
progress. Modern science has replaced the old wooden 
sides with massive sheer walls of steel. The decks 
have been increased in size and number until to-day 
a modern ocean liner resembles in effect a modern 
hotel, in which its passengers are transported from 
deck to deck by elevators. The bows have drawn fur- 
ther and further away from the sterns, until now the 
whole vessel measures nearly a thousand feet in 
length; if stood on end, one of them would overtop 
the highest office building in the world. All the lux- 
ury of the ages, as well as their necessities, has been 

54 




Copyright by Underwood & Underwood. 

FIRST VESSEL PASSING THROUGH GATUN LOCKS OF THE 

PANAMA CANAL 

On board is a party of notables, while thousands gathered on the walls 
cheer the historic voyage. — See page 62. 



STORY OF THE STEAMSHIP 



gathered and incorporated into the interiors of these 
ships, until they are veritably floating cities made up 
of all the splendor of ancient despots. 

*^I say cities advisedly. There are hundreds of 
communities in our nation whose total population 
could be transported across the Atlantic in a single 
one of the vessels whose passenger capacity is esti- 
mated at over 4,000 persons. These passengers have 
at their command all the comforts of home. One of 
the latest ships has a chapel, in which religious ser- 
vices are conducted, while theatres, stores, tailor 
shops, gymnasiums, ballrooms, and a score of other 
traces of modern life are to be found on nearly all our 
ocean liners. 

^^No passenger need go hungry during a modern 
voyage. A peep into its refrigerators and storerooms 
will reassure him on this point. There he will find for 
a single voyage over 100,000 pounds of meat and fish 
of various kinds, 6,000 pounds of bread already made 
and 70,000 pounds of flour and 1,000 pounds of yeast 
with which to make more, if needed; nearly 150,000 
pounds of fresh vegetables and fruits, not to mention 
that which is preserved in thousands of tins and bot- 
tles. In short, he will find here all the kinds of food 
that civilized people eat, and in such quantities as to 
stagger imagination. 

**I need not continue the story of these huge float- 
ing castles. In these days of wonders they no longer 
excite bewilderment; but I cordially invite you all to 
visit one of these ocean liners whenever you go to 
any of our great American seaports. '^ 



55 



THE STORY OF THE AVIATOR AND THE 
SHIPS THAT FLY IN THE CLOUDS 



THE steady pulsing of an engine vibrated through 
the library. Its momentarily increasing throbs 
drew several of the Story-tellers to the windows, 
just in time to see a monster aeroplane flash by. 

**An airship!^' they cried excitedly, and then be- 
came silent as they watched its graceful flight, till it 
settled to earth in a nearby field. They saw a man 
leap from the machine and hurry toward their build- 
ing. Soon the opening elevator door announced his 
arrival, and almost immediately the library door 
swung inward on its hinges. The aviator advanced 
to the center of the room, smiling cheerily in response 
to the jubilant greetings of the gathering. 

' ' Tell us about flying-machines ! ' ' they cried, and 
then became silent as the Story-teller began. 

^'I can only tell you the first chapter, its begin- 
ning,'^ said the speaker. ^^ Man's conquest of the air 
dates from the year 1908, practically. It was in that 
year that man stepped forth, as though from a chrys- 
alis, with full-grown wings. It was then that he slipped 
those fetters which had bound his feet to the earth 
for countless ages, so that now he can consort with 
the feathered creatures of the heavens; or he can 
sport with the condor and the eagle in their mountain- 
top aeries. 

^^ Though the areoplane is but five years old to-day 
(1913) and only about three years old in its marketable 
form, it is further advanced in practical value than 

56 



STORY OF THE AIRSHIP 



the automobile was after many years of use. Did you 
know that there were 3,000 and more birdmen in the 
world at the beginning of the year 1913? Did you 
know that in France alone aviators soared through 
air, in 1911, covering a total distance of 1,600,000 
miles; that 12,000 passengers made these trips and 
spent 30,000 hours of their lives unfettered in the un- 
trammeled heavens? Can you wonder then when I 
say that soon we all will be god-like creatures, en- 
dowed with the power to fly from our homes to our 
business places ; from our home cities to the neigh- 
boring metropolis; from one state to another, and 
from one country to a foreign clime? 

^'In fact, that is what is being done to-day. You 
all remember reading of that business man who reg- 
ularly flew over the waters of Lake Michigan from his 
home to his office in Chicago. You probably have also 
read of the great passenger airship lines which to-day 
are carrying on the average of thirty passengers up 
and down the valley of the Rhine in Germany, or over 
the Black Forest, or from Kiel across country to the 
Danish border and beyond to the North Sea. England 
has established an aerial mail route delivery. A num- 
ber of American business men, noted for their con- 
servative operations, are planning a great aerial pas- 
senger service between New York and St. Louis." 

*' Didn't the ancients ever fly?" inquired one of the 
audience. 

^ ' No, ' ' replied the aviator. * * They often imagined 
themselves doing so, and their legends are replete 
with tales of flying. There were the flying horses of 
the sun, Juno's peacocks, Medea's dragon car, Pegasus 
with his winged feet, Etana flying on an eagle's back 
to the sun gods, and Arabis, who is supposed to have 
made a flight on a magic arrow. It is said that Daedalus 
escaped from the prison of Minos with his son Icarus, 

57 



WONDER STORIES 



the latter losing Ms life because of ^carrying too high 
a sail. ' Bladud, an ancient king of Britain, is reputed 
to have broken his neck while attempting a flight. 

**The real conquerors of the air/' he continued, 
**were the two American brothers, Orville and Wilbur 
Wright. Just after the death of Otto Lilienthal, the 
G-erman experimenter, who only partially succeeded 
in building a heavier-than-air machine that would 
float, these two Americans, then manufacturers of 
bicycles, began to experiment, in 1898. Five years 
afterward, the birds fluttering around the sand dunes 
near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, were startled when 
a machine flew from the ground, and a throbbing 
motor carried the aviator a few hundred feet through 
the air. The next years they spent in perfecting their 
machine, and in 1908 the world was astonished to learn 
that Orville Wright had made a successful flight, re- 
maining in the air one hour and fourteen minutes. 
That was the beginning of the successful aeroplane. 
What Langley, Lilienthal, Sir George Cayley, Sir 
Hiram Maxim, Francis Wenham, Chanute, Pilcher, 
and scores of others had spent fortunes, and in some 
cases their lives, to achieve, these two Americans 
brought to success, and their names will stand in his- 
tory as the pioneers." 

^^Who invented the balloon f inquired some one. 

' ' The Montgolfier brothers, ' ' was the reply. * ' They 
sent up in France a sheep, a chicken and a duck as the 
first passengers, in 1783. A month later, Pilatre de 
Rozier and Marquis d'Arlandes made an ascent in 
Paris, and thus were the first human beings to arise 
above the earth in a heavier-than-air balloon. George 
Washington, then President of the United States, was 
a witness of the first balloon flight in America. A 
French aeronaut, Jean Pierre Blanchard, made the 
ascent from Prison Court in Philadelphia, in 1793. 

58 



STORY OF THE AIRSHIP 



^ ^ The dirigible balloon, ' ^ resumed the aviator, ' ^ re- 
ceived its first public initiation in the year 1901, when 
the young Brazilian, Santos Dumont, steered around 
the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Three years afterward, 
the American, Thomas S. Baldwin, made the first 
American flight at Oakland, California." 

^'Will the airship ever be in universal use?" asked 
one of the gathering. 

^ ' There is no doubt of it, ' ' energetically replied the 
aviator. **Our most eminent scientists are predicting 
a marvelous future for the human race with its air- 
ships. We only have to look about us to see what they 
are accomplishing to-day while the science is but in its 
swaddling-clothes. A few years hence, the monster 
German dirigible airships will have grown larger and 
more numerous. The aeroplanes will have increased 
in seating capacity and numbers, and the heavens will 
resemble spring and autumn days while the birds are 
migrating. Probably, like the birds, the passengers in 
the airships, too, will be migrating to a more suitable 
climate. One scientist has predicted that soon we will 
be able to make excursions to the Arctic regions, the 
North Pole perhaps, during the heated months of the 
summer; or we can soar southward to the equator 
when ice and snow have our land in their grip. 

**One of the latest dirigibles, built by that famous 
pilot of the air. Count Von Zeppelin, is built of a new 
metal, dueralumin, a metal stronger and lighter than 
aluminum, thus permitting more weight to be carried 
in the airship. It resembles a whale more than a bird, 
and is longer than the average American battleship; 
some of his airships are more than 500 feet long. On 
the top are wireless telegraph equipments and a con- 
ning tower like on a submarine vessel, from which 
the pilot can view the heavens as well as the country 
underneath. Beneath the balloon is a keel-like cabin 

59 



WONDER STORIES 



wherein the passengers sit. In the bow of the cabin 
the pilot stands navigating the vessel, while in the rear 
is the stern motor car. Above the pilot and above the 
motor, fastened half way to the top of the dirigible, 
are the propellers, while the rndders and stability- 
planes jnt ont from the stern of the airship. At the 
bow are horizontal planes which guide the ship up 
or down. The pilot 's car and the conning tower on the 
top are connected by a shaft running between drums 
of gas which fill the balloon proper and support the 
airship in the air. 

*^ These are the airships which one day will regu- 
larly fly over land and sea, making their regular calls 
at places, just as locomotives and steamships do to-day. 
Some of them will be express trains, the passengers 
alighting at way stations by means of aeroplanes 
carried with the dirigible for that purpose. Individuals 
will have their smaller machines, just as they have 
their automobiles to-day, to tour the country in parties, 
or to fly to the next town instead of boarding railroad 
trains." 

Incredulity was evident on some of the faces of the 
Story-tellers. 

'*That may sound like some phantasy of a fevered 
brain," exclaimed the aviator, *^but it is not! Only 
a few months ago one of the greatest problems of avia- 
tion was solved. Before that day, aeroplanes had a 
dangerous propensity to tilt in a strong wind. This 
was overcome by applying the gyroscope to the ma- 
chine, a miraculous contrivance which instantly rights 
the airship when it shows the slightest indication of 
tipping. Thus it was that that daring aviator from 
France was enabled to turn head over heels while 
flying in the air. And then for motive power! Our 
great American wizard, Edison, is quoted as saying: 
'If we could only harness the powers of radium we 

60 



STORY OF THE AIRSHIP 



would have an ideal motive force for the vessels of 
the air. Any day some chemist may hit upon a cheap 
way to extract radium from its base. Just think — 
there is enough power in one handful of radium to 
drive the Mauretania from New York to Liverpool ! ' • 

**The world is tending toward universal peace — 
the abolition of war. And one of the greatest heralds 
of peace is the airship. It will make war too horrible 
to exist further. There are to-day great aerial battle- 
ships which are capable of carrying machine guns up- 
ward more than a mile into the heavens, and while 
describing a huge circle above the foe, or a city, at the 
rate of fifty miles an hour are able to pour down a 
very deluge of death. By their horrible ingenuity 
nearly every shot will take effect. Or they can drop 
bombs loaded with terrific high-power explosives and 
lay waste a populous and wealthy city in less time 
than it requires modern artillery to wheel its batteries 
into action. Then the bird-like aeroplanes can hover 
over the foe and by wireless telegraph send their 
information to the commanding general." 

**That," said the aviator, in conclusion, *'is the 
magic of' the airship, the story of how man has chal- 
lenged and conquered the law of gravitation itself.'' 



61 



THE STORY OF THE CANAL BUILDEE 
WHO SEVERED A HEMISPHERE 



IT was a momentous occasion — this clear, crisp day 
of the tenth of October. The Story-tellers were 

gathered in the library to commemorate the event 
that was to make the year of 1913 one of the most 
historic in the annals of human achievement. 

This was the memorable day when man was to per- 
form his greatest of modern miracles; by his might 
and will the Western Hemisphere was to be severed 
into two continents; by the magic of American skill 
and courage the waters of the two greatest oceans were 
to rush together into perpetual wedlock. In com- 
memoration of this triumph of man over Nature, the 
Story-tellers had chosen this hour to listen to the 
wonderful story of the Panama Canal. 

The narrator was an eminent engineer. 

**We have often heard,'' he said, *^of the seven 
wonders of the ancient world; the towering Pyramids 
of Egypt; the wonderful lighthouse, or Pharos, in 
Egypt; the Hanging Gardens of Babylon; the beauti- 
ful temple of Diana at Ephesus ; the statue of Jupiter 
by Phidias; the sumptuous mausoleum of Artemisia; 
and the bronze Colossus of Rhodes. 

**We look back with awe and admiration at the 
seven wonders of the Middle Ages: there we see the 
stately Coliseum of Rome; the catacombs of Alexan- 
dria; the great wall of China; the celebrated Stone- 
henge on Salisbury Plain; the leaning tower of Pisa; 
the porcelain tower of Nankin ; and the mosque of St. 
Sophia in Constantinople. 

62 



STORY OF THE PANAMA CANAL 

''It is interesting to contrast these with the won- 
ders of the modern world : the wireless messages which 
speak from the sea and air ; the telephone which hurls 
the human voice across continents; the aeroplane in 
which men travel through the clouds ; the phonograph ; 
the motion pictures; the innumerable inventions that 
are daily proving the genius of man ; the great scien- 
tific discoveries such as radium, antiseptics and anti- 
toxins, spectrum analysis, and X-rays ; and the gigan- 
tic engineering achievements that typify our present 
civilization. The stories of all these are interwoven 
into the tales to which we are all listening. 

**But my story,'* exclaimed the engineer, impres- 
sively, ^'is more wonderful than all the ancient won- 
ders combined. It is the Panama Canal, the greatest 
of all the engineering conquests in the annals of man ; 
a perpetual memorial to the American courage and 
genius that triumphed where all other nations feared 
to tread and where one, the most resourceful of all, 
had gone down in defeat. 

''To-day," declared the engineer, **a new milestone 
is erected in the march of civilization. It was only 
this afternoon that President Woodrow Wilson leveled 
the last barrier at Panama which held apart the surg- 
ing waters of the Orient and the Occident. Seated 
in our national capitol he pressed a button which 
hurled an electric impulse from the shores of the 
Potomac to the mighty Gamboa Dike, 2,000 miles away, 
and released the furious power of 40 tons of dynamite 
which hurled the barrier heavenward in scattering 
clouds of earth and rock. 

' ' This awe-inspiring spectacle marked the culmina- 
tion of nine years of herculean labor. Its thunder- 
ing tones echoed around the world to announce the 
practical completion of the most colossal wonder of 
human creation. It proclaimed that the Americans 

63 



WONDER STORIES 



are the greatest miracle workers of all time, and it 
placed the name of its chief builder, Colonel George 
Washington Goethals, a native of Brooklyn, New York, 
among those of the immortals. With his name, too, 
will be inscribed that of his fellow miracle worker, 
Colonel William Crawford Gorgas, the Alabamian who 
drew the deadly disease fangs from the tropics so 
that the workmen from the north could exist in the 
jungles where they labored. 

**This mighty achievement has been the dream of 
four centuries. Two decades after Columbus landed 
on Watling's Island in the New World, Balboa, having 
discovered the Pacific, dreamed of a strait which would 
lead from the Atlantic to the Sea of Cathay. Then 
came, in 1520, Angel Saevedra with the startling and 
visionary proposal to pierce the Isthmus of Darien. 
But when Antonio Galvao proposed thirty years later 
that a canal be cut through the Isthmus of Panama, 
he brought upon his head the wrath of the Spanish 
king, who then and there declared an embargo upon 
such ideas under the penalty of death. It is said that 
the reason was political. However, Spain had re- 
considered its edict by the year 1821 and was about to 
begin the task. Latin America revolted and drove 
the Castilians from the Isthmus. 

**The tropical isthmus of Panama has defied the 
world!'* exclaimed the engineer. *'It drank the life- 
blood of thousands of laborers under De Lesseps, the 
French engineer, and it swallowed up more than 
$260,000,000 in money and machinery. It was in the 
epochal year of 1904 that a courageous band of Amer- 
ican engineers swarmed down from the north to per- 
form the miracle of cutting the Western Hemisphere 
into two continents. Armed with huge steam shovels 
and steam dredges, electric and compressed air drills, 
sticks of dynamite and powerful cranes, carrying enor- 

64 



STORY OF THE PANAMA CANAL 

mous tanks of oil and petroleum to battle with, the 
deadly mosquito whicli virtually had defeated the 
French canal diggers, they began the long conquest of 
nature and the elements. 

^^A paean of industry came up from the tropics, 
drowning out the cries of scoffers. The full orchestra 
of shovel and siren, of rending blasts and crumbling 
mountains, silenced the criticisms. Under the leader- 
ship of the gallant American engineers the workers 
cleft the neck of the jungle land and slowly cut 
their way from ocean to ocean. Two years before the 
fondest dreams had predicted, there lay in the words 
of Hudson Maxim: 

*An ocean-way that cuts in twain a continent, 
Hewn through the mountain's primal rock, 
And through the shifting shale, the mire and mud 
And fickle sand of marsh and swamp and plain ; 
That lifts and bears the burdens 
That the oceans bear in giant ships — 
A half the freighted commerce of the world.' 

**So it is,'' remarked the Story-teller, *Hhat to-day 
the mighty Panama Canal changes the tide of com- 
merce. It lessens the journey between the Orient and 
North American ports by thousands of miles. It brings 
San Francisco nearer to New York by 7,873 miles; 
Yokohama by 3,768; Shanghai by 1,876 miles; Val- 
paraiso by 3,747 miles, and Melbourne in Australia 
by 2,770 miles. This mighty transformation brings San 
Francisco and other Pacific ports 7,000 miles nearer 
to Liverpool and Hamburg." 

**How long does it take a vessel to pass from the 
Atlantic to the Pacific through the canal?" inquired 
one of the gathering. 

** About twelve hours," the engineer replied. **It 
is a journey of about 50 miles. About 15 of these 

65 



WONDER STORIES 



lead through that part of the canal which lies at sea- 
level, and the remaining distance through Gatun Lake, 
Miraflores basin and the three sets of locks at about 
80 feet above the surface of the oceans. 

*^A ship following in the course of the setting sun 
approaches through the Gulf of Mexico. Skirting a 
huge two-mile breakw^ater which guards the entrance 
of the canal, it enters a channel 500 feet wide and 41 
feet deep. Scudding through Limon Bay, past the 
red-tiled roofs of ancient Colon, on the left, the ship 
heads direct through a low-lying garden of tropical 
verdure lying on either shore. At the end of ^Ye miles 
appear the mighty walls of Gatun locks, the most 
stupendous concrete structure ever created. 

^^This is the first of the series of locks which will 
lift the heaviest ship afloat up into the great Gatun 
lake. Its portals are guarded by massive steel doors 
7 feet thick, 65 feet wide, 82 feet high and weighing 
nearly 600 tons each; yet they are balanced with such 
exquisite nicety that one of them could be moved by a 
hand thrust. Tremendous air-cushions help the mighty 
gates to hold back the tons upon tons of water held 
within the locks. 

*^The gates swing open. The ship passes mthin 
and is hidden from .sight. The massive doors close 
again. While you are waiting for the inflowing water 
to raise you to the level of the floor of the second 
section of the locks, look about you upon the massive 
walls. It is a huge basin of concrete, 1,000 feet long 
and 110 feet wide in the clear. Beyond the huge wall 
of concrete, on your left, is an exact duplicate of this 
basin. This dividing wall is sixty feet thick, and built 
into it at the top is the titanic machinery which oper- 
ates the locks. Further on in your journey you will 
see the man-made Niagara which supplies the power 
in the form of electricity. Beneath the keel of your 

66 



STORY OF THE PANAMA CANAL 



ship is the floor of the basin, made of concrete and 
as enduring as a mountain. 

*'The ship begins to move. You look up in amaze- 
ment. The doors of the second section of the locks 
are swinging open. Your vessel, probably weighing 
30,000 tons, has been magically raised 28 feet while 
you were gazing in awe at the stupendous work of 
your fellow-Americans. The miracle has been per- 
formed — simply by allowing water to flow into the 
basin. The second and the third lock section is a 
duplicate of the first except that the doors are slightly 
shorter and consequently weigh several tons less. 

^^What is this that greets your vision? Your ship 
has been pulled by a powerful electric locomotive run- 
ning along the concrete wall. At this instant it sails 
out under its own steam into the 170 square miles of 
Gatun Lake. Here on your left, looms a great artificial 
hill — it is the gigantic Gatun Dam. The waters of the 
lake are being passed off through a huge spill-way and 
into turbine engines which create the power to operate 
the machinery of the entire Panama Canal. This 
mighty dam stretches for one and two-thirds miles, 
looming 30 feet above the normal level of the lake, 
and is 100 feet wide, except for a distance of 1,900 
feet which is 375 feet wide. About 140,000 cubic feet 
of water flow over the spillway every second. 

^'The lake itself, nestling under the green car- 
peted slopes of the surrounding mountains, is large 
enough to accommodate the entire United States Naval 
fleet. Through this great inland sea, your ship will 
speed under its own steam for a distance of 32 miles 
until it reaches the closed doors of a single lock, the 
Pedro Miguel, which will lower the vessel a distance 
of thirty feet into Miraflores Basin. A short distance 
beyond, the ship enters the first of the two Miraflores 
locks and is lowered 27 feet into the second lock which 

67 



WONDER STORIES 



also lowers it another 27 feet. Then the mighty steel 
doors are flung open. The ship is free to fly down the 
five-mile avenue leading into Panama Bay, and out 
into the waters of the Pacific Ocean.'' 

**You make me feel as if I had been taking the 
journey," said one of the Story-tellers. 

^^How many men did it require to build the canal?" 
asked another. 

*^At one time there were 40,000 employed," an- 
swered the engineer. * ^ Fifty-eight hundred men were 
employed in building the locks alone, and more than 
57,000 tons of steel went into the manufacture of the 
lock doors. The huge Gatun locks consumed 2,000,000 
barrels of cement — and 5,000,000 barrels were used 
in constructing all the locks and dams. Six million 
rivets were driven in the construction work, while 
212,514,138 cubic yards of earth, rock, mud and shale 
were dug out to make way for the new highway of 
commerce and travel. ' ' 

**What did it cost?" asked some one. 

**Not more than the sum estimated at the beginning 
of the work — $375,000,000," remarked the engineer, in 
conclusion. ^^It is a sum greater than Spain, Japan 
and Sweden had in stocks of gold in the year that it 
was opened. It is a sum over seventy thousand times 
greater than that required by Columbus to dis- 
cover the Western Hemisphere. And yet it is only 
about the estimated wealth of a single American in 
these days of stupendous fortunes. These are days of 
colossal figures as well as tremendous achievements. I 
dare not predict what the next step will be in this con- 
quest of the universe." 



68 



THE STORY OF THE BRIDGE BUILDER 
WHO SPANS RIVERS AND CANYONS 



A POWERFULLY built man stood by tbe li- 
brary window. His gaze was directed toward 
the spidery outlines of a mammoth bridge. Over 
it flowed the throngs of trucks, carriages, automobiles, 
electric cars and pedestrians. He glanced at the 
pageant of steamships, schooners and ferry-boats 
passing in the river beneath the span. 

**That is one of the most inspiring sights in mod- 
ern civilization,'' he said. **It represents man's con- 
quest over Nature's barriers. That is the story which 
I will tell you — the romance of modern bridge build- 
ing. 

^^A half century ago, those monster bridges did 
not, could not, exist. To-day these complex 1,000-foot 
steel and iron spans demand the elaborate calculations 
of the mathematician, the best skill of the chemist and 
metallurgist, the keen judgment of the engineer, the 
vast resources of the financier, and the mighty strength 
of powerful engines and the weird ingenuity of mar- 
velous machine-tools directed by trained mechanics. 
Not the least requisite is the physical and moral 
courage of the humble bridge builder. 

* ^ In this generation you will find American bridges 
in all parts of the world. They span deep rivers, lakes, 
harbors and ravines. They weld cities and states, 
cross international boundary lines, create and increase 
commerce and level its barriers, modify despotic polit- 
ical power, ameliorate social conditions, multiply 
property value many fold, and save thousands of lives. 

69 



WONDER STORIES 



^^The secret of modern bridge building is the long 
steel span, built to sustain without a tremor the weight 
of a plunging express train as it dashes across a wide 
river or deep chasm. This type of bridge dates from 
about the beginning of our American Civil War. 

^^Who has not seen some of the mighty steel struc- 
tures and wondered at the magic by which they were 
thrown across swollen floods? Many of you have seen, 
and probably ridden upon, that mighty pioneer struc- 
ture which James Buchanan Eades thrust across the 
Mississippi flood at St. Louis, without for an instant 
interrupting the heavy river traffic, and before the 
science of estimating weights and pressures as they 
relate to bridges was fully understood. Just below 
the dashing spray of Niagara's mighty falls is the 
longest single span bridge in the world, appearing like 
a huge steel rainbow supporting a roadway upon 
its arch. That was the work of the greatest of all 
bridge builders, John A. Roebling. The first Niagara 
bridge was the first railway suspension bridge in the 
world, and was built in 1855, when the world's greatest 
engineers were declaring that it was impossible to 
span the Niagara. Erecting two mighty masonry 
towers on opposite banks, Eoebling slung four huge 
steel cables across and from these suspended a road- 
way and a railroad track 240 feet above the rapid. 

^^When the slender wire threads of the cables 
threatened to give out, a new bridge was projected, and 
this was the most marvelous feat of all. The new 
structure, a steel arch bridge with its arches resting 
on either shore, was actually built without disturbing 
traffic for more than a few minutes at a time, and when 
completed had been built around the old bridge. 

**When you voyage up the historic and picturesque 
Hudson River you pass under the famous cantilever 
railroad bridge at Poughkeepsie, built in 1889. To 

70 



STORY OF GREAT BRIDGES 



erect the five mighty spans of this structure, the en- 
gineers built five tiers of staging on the surface of 
the river, which when completed appeared just like 
a modern skyscraper before its dress of brick and 
stone is applied. Crossing the Missouri River at 
Omaha is the world's greatest drawbridge with a 
single span of 520 feet, w^hile the longest fixed span 
of the type known as truss span reaches across the 
Ohio River at Louisville. 

*^Out in the Rocky Mountains, where our Amer- 
ican bridge builders have performed some of their 
most magical work, is the highest bridge in the world. 
And it is made of glass! That is, the floor of the 
roadway is, so that the tourist may look down to the 
seething waters 2,627 feet below. This is the bridge 
in Colorado which crosses the beautiful Royal Gorge. 

^*In the heart of the city of Chicago there are 
several queer looking bridges which at the approach 
of a steamer along the Chicago River quickly rise, 
just as the feudal baron's drawbridge did before his 
castle. These are known as the ^rolling lift* bridge. 
Though these huge spans weigh sometimes as much 
as 5,000,000 pounds each they literally raise them- 
selves to an upright position in less than a minute — 
it requires powerful machinery to pull them down 
again to form the bridge across the river. 

^'Even historic Albemarle Sound, in North Caro- 
lina, has been bridged. Here a railroad span runs for 
five continuous miles across the water between Eden- 
ton and Mackey's Ferry. What the North Carolinians 
have done, Californians are planning to repeat. They 
are planning to join the cities of San Francisco and 
Oakland with a monster bridge over San Francisco 
Bay, to be nearly nine miles long. Anywhere you 
travel throughout our land you will find the magic 
structures of the bridge builders. They are made of 

fi 71 



WONDER STORIES 



iron or steel or of concrete. The largest of the con- 
crete structnres in the world is that which our govern- 
ment bnilt in the National Capital at a cost of $850,000. 
It is known as the Connecticut Avenue bridge and is 
1,500 feet in length. 

^'No other city in the United States has such tre- 
mendous bridges as span the rivers about New York 
City. Here still stands the famous old Brooklyn, now 
accompanied by three other larger bridges, which John 
Roebling completed in the year 1883. It has been a 
faithful servant to the cities it joins. When the bridge 
was twenty years old it was found that fifteen times 
as many people passed over it daily as when it was 
first erected. What it means to the cities is revealed in 
the fact that, in the year 1904, more people passed from 
shore to shore than live in the whole United States — 
about 30,000,000 more. That meant a traffic for the 
year of about 120,000,000. In a single day more peo- 
ple passed over it than live in the state of Vermont, 
or in Lisbon, or even in New Orleans. At one period 
of the day 54,000 people crossed it in an hour's time. 
For many years this was the world's greatest suspen- 
sion bridge. To-day a greater structure stretches 
across the same river between New York and Queens 
which is, with its approaches, about three miles long 
and hangs 140 feet above the water. It cost about 
$20,000,000." 

^^ Which is the oldest bridge in the United States!" 
asked one of the gathering. 

*^The oldest metal bridge is the historic old Chain 
Bridge at Newburyport, in Massachusetts, built, in 
1792. That was thirteen years after Abraham Darby 
built the world's first cast-iron bridge across the river 
Severn, in England. His was an arch bridge, while 
the Newburyport bridge was the t^^e known as sus- 
pension. There is a great difference between these 

72 



STORY OF GREAT BRIDGES 



two types. The arch bridge is said to have been known 
to the ancient Chinese, who built their structures of 
wood. It was the Eomans who introduced the stone 
bridge, applying the arch to it. Their first was the 
famous Ponte de Eotto, or Senator's Bridge, built 
about 127 B. C. The longest span arch bridge of 
masonry ever built is the historic Cabin John bridge 
in Washington, D. C, with a span of 220 feet. 

*^If you should ever go to the Andean countries of 
South America, or to the mountainous districts of 
India or Africa, you will probably find bridges such 
as our primitive ancestors had. They will be either 
a single strand of strong ropes or twisted vines stretch- 
ing across the ravine or river with two other ropes 
about breast high. It is simply the acrobat's tight- 
rope, except that you have the two side ropes to guide 
and maintain your balance. The most primitive of all 
you can find along any small stream, possibly in your 
wood-lot, where a fallen tree trunk or series of stones 
form a ford across the shallow streams." 



73 



THE STOKY OF THE ENGINEER WHO 
TUNNELS UNDER THE EARTH 




OW would you like to plunge through the side 
of a mountain f whimsically asked a Story- 
teller. *^How would you like to drop to the 
bottom of a river and skim along its bed for a mile 
and more and emerge on the opposite shore without 
wetting your feet? How would you like to travel 
underground at the rate of thirty miles an hour be- 
neath the heavy streets of a great city, under colossal, 
skyscraping buildings I ' ' 

The startling questions brought smiles of bewilder- 
ment and incredulity to the faces of his listeners. 

^^ These feats,'' continued the speaker, ^^are not 
fantastic dreams. They are actual possibilities in this 
age of miracles. They are not the creations of magic 
workers, but are the Titanic achievements wrought by 
American engineers and tunnel builders. It is of the 
romance of tunnel building that I will tell you. 

*^ While we are assembled here to-night there are 
scores of armies of these wizards piercing the hearts 
of mountain ranges, or delving* beneath swollen floods. 
They are fighting terrific battles with the elements in 
their endeavor to drive a shaft through mountain 
or river so that an hour or a few miles may be taken 
from the time schedule of some transcontinental rail- 
road, or to furnish the congested city's citizens with 
a quicker method of traveling between home and office. 

^^ Modern mountain tunneling can be said to date 
from the year 1856. It was in that year that a cour- 

74 



STORY OF THE TUNNELS 



ageous band of engineers and tunnel workers pitted 
their strength and wits against the southern spur of 
the Green Mountains in western Massachusetts. To 
their aid they brought, for the first time in America, 
electricity, nitro-glycerine, air compression, and power 
rock drills. They divided into four armies, two start- 
ing on either side of the mountain and two more dig- 
ging down from the top in the center of the ridge. Six- 
teen years later, the last smoke of the battle cleared 
away^ and a yawning hole nearly five miles long led 
through the solid rock. It was about twenty feet high 
and wide enough to permit the laying of two railway 
tracks. It had been a fierce battle and it had cost 
nearly $11,000,000 in money. But it had made possible 
that great railroad system now running between 
Massachusetts and Troy, New York, by way of the 
famous Hoosac Tunnel. 

^^That was the beginning. Since then more men 
have joined the army of tunnel builders and they fear- 
lessly attack the most unpromising project. They 
have burrowed a tunnel through the mighty Cascade 
Mountain range in northwestern Washington for a 
distance of about three miles. They have cut through 
the vitals of the Wasatch Mountains with a series of 
tunnels whose combined length measures about fifty 
miles. In southwestern Colorado they have tapped 
the mountains by the famous Gunnison Tunnel, 
through which a former underground river is made 
to deliver its precious water to the surrounding val- 
leys. In California the Big Bend Tunnel, two miles 
long, drains the Feather Kiver. And now they are 
just beginning, in 1913, the mighty task of driving 
America's longest tunnel, six and a quarter miles long, 
through the backbone of the Continental Divide in 
Colorado. And when they have completed it, about 

75 



WONDER STORIES 



the year 1916, they will have wrought a saving of 64 
miles in the railroad journey across the continent, and 
23 miles between Denver and Salt Lake City, as well 
as saving a 2,500-foot climb over the crest of the Eocky 
Mountains. 

^ ^ You, of course, are all familiar with the marvelous 
subterranean railway system of the American metrop- 
olis, the greatest in the world. But do you know what 
that system means in our modern civilization? Are 
you aware that nearly a billion people are carried un- 
derneath the city every year? Did you know that 
there are to-day, in 1913, more than 85 miles of track 
under New York and Brooklyn, and that within a few 
years there will be four times as much more! The 
pioneer genius of this mighty achievement was the 
American, John B. MacDonald, and he spent nearly 
$75,000,000 in building and equipping the present sub- 
way. The new one will cost in the neighborhood of 
$300,000,000.'' 

^^Is the New York subway the only one in the 
country?" asked some one. 

''No," replied the speaker. ^'Boston has an ex- 
cellent system. And Chicago has a unique under- 
ground freight system underlying her business dis- 
trict and covering more than fourteen miles. It is 
designed to transport merchandise from warehouse to 
store and from store to the railroad freight stations. 

''The greatest engineering feat of all was that 
which the young Tennessee lawyer, William. G. Mc- 
Adoo, magically performed when he drove his railroad 
tubes underneath the Hudson Eiver, thus connecting 
New York with New Jersey. For eight years he and 
his engineers and 'ground-hogs' pitted their strength 
against the swollen floods over their heads. Foot 
by foot, occasionally stopping to plaster up the roof 
of their tunnel where the river had torn through, they 

76 



STORY OF THE TUNNELS 



drove by hydraulic pressure a huge steel shield 
through rock and silt, linking together the great steel 
rings of the tubes as each two-foot section was cleared 
away. It was a mighty battle, but in the year 1910 the 
tunnel was complete and the first public train rumbled 
from the heart of New York to the shore and thence 
down under the great river and up again to the New 
Jersey shore. 

^^Like New York, Boston's suburban influx every 
day overtaxed her ferry service. Consequently, Bos- 
ton has a tunnel a mile and a half long, reaching from 
the city proper to East Boston and running beneath a 
part of Boston Harbor. But one of the most unique 
tunnel constructions connects the city of Detroit with 
the Canadian city of Windsor. William J. Wilgus, an 
American railroad expert, studied the peculiar prob- 
lems presented by the Detroit Eiver, where nearly as 
much traffic passes as does in the Suez Canal. He con- 
ceived the idea of dredging a furrow in the river bed, 
similar to that which the farmer plows across his 
field. Then the tunnel tubes were made in sections, 
appearing like that part of a stovepipe which enters 
the chimney, flange and all. These were taken out on 
floats to their proper positions and then lowered into 
the furrow. Divers then descended and fastened the 
sections together, while concrete was later poured into 
the furrow, until the tubes rested in veritable solid 
rock. 

''Like a growing plant, a city has to reach out 
farther and farther, as it increases, for its water. Thus 
New York to-day is taking its water from the Catskill 
Mountains. These mountains lie on the opposite side 
of the Hudson Eiver. The problem of conducting the 
water across appeared easy until one far-sighted per- 
son suggested the possibility of some foe in the future 

77 



WONDER STORIES 



being able to destroy any bridge or aqueduct erected 
with a single stick of dynamite. Out of this possibility 
grew the marvelous tunnel which carries the water 
underneath the river to the further shore. It lies like 
a huge syphon, in the form of the letter U, the per- 
pendicular shafts delving through solid rock more than 
1,000 feet below the river ^s surface. Then the lateral 
shaft, also dug in solid rock, mostly granite, strikes 
straight across the river to the other side and then 
upward. On its journey to the distant city the Cat- 
skill water travels through four other tunnels whose 
aggregate length is about 15 miles, leading under the 
Rondout, Walkill and Moodna rivers and under Cro- 
ton Lake." 

**Did the ancients build tunnels f inquired one 
of the Story-tellers. 

**Yes, and some of them are in existence to-day. 
The art of tunnel building is one of the oldest of en- 
gineering sciences. The Egyptians and ancient tribes 
of India dug them to buiw their noble dead in. The 
Assyrians built one under the Euphrates River, by 
diverting the river through a tempoi'^ry channel and 
returning it to its original bed when the tunnel had 
been bricked in. But the greatest engineers of all were 
the Romans. In this day you can still see their mighty 
works. One is the hio'hwav tunnel leadino- under the 
Posilipo Hills between Naples and Pozzuoli, 3,000 feet 
long and with entrances 75 feet wide, the tunnel taper- 
ing until at the center it is about 22 feet wide. But in 
those days it required decades and generations to build 
a short tunnel — to-day it is a matter of months and 



years. 



78 



THE STORY OF THE IHKIGATORS WHO 
TRANSFORM DESERTS INTO GARDENS 




AN is indeed the conqueror!" exclaimed a 
powerful young fellow, with broad forehead 
and deep, penetrating eyes. "But it seems to 
me that the greatest of all his conquests is the triumph 
over the deserts. Through the power of his brain 
and brawn, he has brought to fulfillment the prophecy 
of ancient times that Hhe wilderness shall blossom as 
the rose. ' This is no longer a figure of speech — I have 
seen it with my own eyes. 

*^We are a great and free people," exclaimed the 
Story-teller, "yet it is only a few years since two- 
fifths of our territory was in the hands of an enemy. ' ' 

"A few years!" echoed another. "You must go 
farther back than that." 

"No, sir," replied the first speaker, "not more 
than ten years. And the enemy holds much of the 
land still." 

The audience looked mystified. 

"The enemy," he said, "is Drought. And the 
weapon with which he is being beaten back, inch by 
inch, is Irrigation. There lay vast regions, extending 
over the length and breadth of our Western states, 
but they were waste and unproductive lands, owing 
to the scarcity of water. Hqw was this lost empire to 
be reclaimed? 

"It was in 1902 that a gigantic scheme was set on 
foot by the government for irrigating these arid 
regions. A start was made with twenty-five projects, 

79 



WONDER STORIES 



involving in the aggregate over two and a half mil- 
lion acres. 

''And then began the constrnction of those mag- 
nificent works of engineering that stand as perpetual 
memorials of American skill and enterprise. Of the 
great dams that arose in connection with this rec- 
lamation scheme, my friend the engineer will tell 
yon some other time. One thought must have thrilled 
the engineer, as he saw the giant structure growing 
under his hands — ^what it meant to the surrounding 
land: life instead of death, fecundity in place of 
sterility, a panorama of fruitful fields and waving trees 
replacing arid wastes. 

''What would be the feelings," exclaimed the 
speaker with enthusiasm, "of a modern Eip van 
Winkle, who had fallen asleep in the 'Great American 
Desert' a dozen years ago, if he were to wake to-day? 
He would behold a transformation appearing mirac- 
ulous. Where had been a dreary expanse of arid 
plain, stretching bare and treeless to the horizon, he 
would behold fields of waving grain, countless fruit- 
trees laden with their luscious burden, with prosperous 
farm homes and villages lining silvery canals. 

"In the region of the Truckee River, in Nevada, 
was a lifeless desert, strewn with the bones of animals 
and marked by the graves of countless emigrants, who, 
on their long and toilsome journey to the Pacific, had 
perished of thirst. It is now a region of smiling fields, 
with prosperous cities springing up among them. Four 
rivers have been linked together in a wonderful scheme 
of irrigation, and their waters spread themselves 
through all this land. 

"The waterless valleys of California, through which 
the weary gold hunters of '49 struggled, many to drop 
and die of thirst almost in sight of their goal, have 

80 



STORY OF IRRIGATION 



become fair vineyards and orchards and gardens, 
whose products find their way not only to New York, 
but to far distant London and Paris. 

^' Think of what has been done in the Yakima Val- 
ley, in the State of Washington, where a territory 
of 350,000 acres has been reclaimed by the waters of 
the great Sunny side canal. Or in the Shoshone Val- 
ley, where a territory of 476,000 acres is watered to 
a depth of one foot. 

^'What has changed the face of the * Great Amer- 
ican Desert' in Kansas? A few years ago, as far as 
the eye could reach, there was nothing but a dreary 
expanse of flat, treeless prairie; there was hardly 
any rain; hot winds swept the country. But it was 
found that there was an abundance of water under 
ground. Wells were sunk, and the water was pumped 
into reservoirs by means of windmills. This wind- 
mill method of irrigation is cheap and efficient. No 
wonder the country for miles around is dotted with 
windmills, each with its graceful sails revolving over 
a reservoir, which waters from ten to twenty acres of 
ground. Monster crops are grown and the yield of the 
fruit trees is prodigious. Trees, indeed, grow on all 
sides, where trees never grew before. 

"But the magic of irrigation does more than this. 
Unwonted delicacies in the shape of fish reach the 
farmer's table from his reservoir, which also furnishes 
ice for summer use. Pleasant recreation, too, 
these reservoirs provide — boating in the summer, 
skating in the winter. Was it a prophet that named 
the once desolate center of a scene of desolation ^Gar- 
den CityT' 

"How is this irrigation done?'' asked the farmer. 

"In the case of water obtained from the great 
reservoirs," replied the Story-teller, "it runs into 

81 



WONDER STORIES 



canals, which in their turn feed a network of ditches. 
Bnt there are smaller concerns, in which a few neigh- 
boring farmers combine to bnild a ditch for themselves. 
Such a one in a little valley on the Yellowstone River 
is ten miles long, carries 50,000 gallons of water a 
minute, and will irrigate about 6,000 acres. It took 
about three months to complete, and the cost was $5 
per acre. This ditch waters 6,000 acres, covered vfith 
wheat and alfalfa. 

^^One of the finest ranches in Arizona is fertilized 
by means of waste water pumped from a mine. This 
was the idea of a miner, who bought a piece of arid 
ground and connected it with the mine by means of a 
flume. He was rewarded for his ingenuity by rich 
crops of alfalfa and other good things. 

^^It is interesting to know that electricity has been 
pressed into the service of irrigation and has proved 
less costly and more efficient than the older methods. 
An electrical pumping plant can be installed at a cost 
of $4 an acre and is found to be more reliable. 

'^ An important fact to remember in connection wdth 
irrigation is that land watered artificially is much 
more productive than land that receives only natural 
moisture. The fact is that river water, with its silt 
and sediment, is the finest fertilizer in the world. The 
chemicals carried by one of the Arizona Eivers have 
been valued at $6 per acre annually. 

''As I have indicated," continued the Story-teller, 
*'this great work of reclamation has made substantial 
progress. Two-thirds of the first scheme of twenty- 
five projects is completed, at a cost of nearly 
$80,000,000. When it is finished, it is proposed to 
start on thirteen further projects, dealing with over 
three and a half million acres. But, in addition, 
7,000,000 acres have already been put under water by 
private enterprise. But then we are only at the be- 

82 



STORY OF IRRIGATION 



ginning, so to speak, of tlie work, for it is hoped to 
reclaim in time at least 30,000,000 acres. This would 
give an 80 acre farm to each of 375,000 persons. 

^'Already the irrigation scheme has greatly affected 
the population of the districts in question. Hundreds 
of towns have arisen almost in a night. Some 700,000 
farms were under irrigation in 1910. Everything has 
been done to encourage settlers. They can buy land 
by easy payments, of area sufficient to support a fam- 
ily, and for the irrigation of which they have to pay 
only the actual cost.*' 

^^Can you give us any figures as to the production 
of these new farms f asked one of the audience. 

^^I can give you a typical instance," replied the 
Story-teller. ^^A southern Idaho farmer has pro- 
duced, per acre, on land that a short time back would 
hardly grow a blade of grass, 133 bushels of wheat, 
107 bushels of oats, 451 bushels of potatoes, 22 tons of 
beets, a 165 gallon yield of sorghum cane, 70 bushels 
of flint popcorn, 588 pounds of buckwheat, besides 
other things. 

*^ Remember, irrigation means insurance of a full 
harvest every year. It means no crop failures, no 
heart-breaking losses. It means certain, steady profit 
all the time. Though the rains fail, the mighty reser- 
voirs that imprison the everlasting flow of the rivers 
never fail. 

*'It is inspiring to think," said the speaker in con- 
clusion, his eyes sparkling with enthusiasm, *^what 
this blessing of irrigation means to the country. A 
million new and prosperous American homes; the re- 
lief of the congestion of the cities; billions added to 
the wealth of the nation. This is what the magic of 
irrigation has done and is doing, and it promises still 
greater surprises for the future." 



83 



THE STORY OF THE DAM BUILDER 

WHO CONQUERS THE MIGHTY 

WATERS 



"^TT^HE dam builder!" shouted a chorus of voices. 

_£ ^' Where is the dam builder? This is the mo- 
ment for his story." 

They gazed about the gathering, but no one seemed 
to respond. 

^^Here he is!" called out a voice from the most 
secluded corner of the library. ^^But he is a modest 
man and prefers to tell his story later." 

*^ Bring him forth!" demanded the Story-tellers. 
'*A11 great men are modest." 

A sinewy man, with disheveled hair tumbling over 
his bronzed face, was finally propelled to the center 
of the room. 

*^ About all I can say for the dam builders," he 
drawled, ^4s that they work like beavers." 

The listeners quickly grasped the significance of 
his statement. 

*^It is, in fact, merely an instance of where men 
caught an idea from the beaver and put it into practice 
in their own scheme of life. Those wise little animals 
gather twigs and tree branches to protect their homes. 
The whole colony, starting their work from the middle 
of a stream, weighing down the wood with mud and 
stones, work indefatigably toward either shore until 
they have constructed quite a respectable dam. Later 
repairs and additions will, in course of time, often 
bring the top of it to ^ve or more feet above the water 
level. 

84 



STORY OF THE GREAT DAMS 



^'They are wonderful engineers. The beaver 
taught man how to curb rivers. To-day, however, the 
pupil has outstripped the teacher in dam building. 
Instead of the beavers ' wooden barriers, American dam 
builders erect monstrous bulwarks of granite and con- 
crete. Instead of a five-foot dam, our engineers rear 
mighty walls sixty times higher and ranging across a 
river two miles wide. The beaver builds his dam to 
protect his home, while the American dam builder 
builds his, not only for protection, but to flood arid 
lands, or to store up water for a thirsting city, or to 
create Titanic power with which to turn his industrial 
wheels, and light and heat his homes. 

^^ America leads the world in great hydraulic en- 
gineering achievements. The world's longest dam 
curbs the mighty Mississippi where it flows through 
the heart of our nation. It is a bulwark of adamant, 
a worthy foe for the Father of Waters — I know for I 
helped to build it, completing the task in the early 
part of 1913. 

'^Before we laid the mighty barrier of concrete 
and stone across the river, this part of the Mississippi, 
because of the Des Moines Hapids, was one of the most 
dangerous for navigators. Our government had spent 
$8,000,000 to build a canal that would subdue the 
rapids, but in vain. To-day our great dam, stretching 
between Keokuk, in Iowa, to the opposite shore, not 
only floods these rapids with sufficient water to cover 
their jagged spurs, but it backs up the river water for 
a distance of 65 miles, thus forming a great inland 
sea and generating about 300,000 horse-power of 
electricity with which to light and heat, run the cars 
and turn the factory wheels of cities lying within 150 
miles of the dam. 

**It is not the highest dam in the world," the 

85 



WONDER STORIES 



speaker added, ^'measuring only 57 feet from rock 
bottom to the top of the dam, but its one and two- 
thirds of a mile stretch makes it the longest. The 
power-house alone, built into the dam itself, is more 
than a third of a mile long." 

^^ Where is our highest dam?" asked some one. 

^'Out in Wyoming — that is, it was in 1913," he 
added. ^'Our engineers are always building new ones, 
and before the end of the year they may have erected 
one that will be still higher. The Wyoming dam, the 
Shoshone, is 325 feet high, or just half as high as the 
tallest office building in the world. 

^^The modern dam builders," explained the Story- 
teller, ^ ^ are men of great daring. They must have the 
qualities of pioneers. They frequently find themselves 
in the heart of primeval Nature, almost cut off from 
civilization, and must blaze their own wagon roads 
for the transportation of supplies and materials. 

^'That is what they did when they built the great 
Shoshone dam. The road ran for eight miles and in 
many places tunneled through the granite-ribbed 
mountains. But the greatest problem was the torrent 
of water plunging through the gorge they intended to 
dam. Its sheer sides towered 2,500 feet above the 
river and were only 60 feet apart. The river dashed 
through the gorge like a mill-race, but the dam build- 
ers captured and led it through a temporary channel 
above the gorge. Then in the dry river bed they ex- 
cavated a ditch 87 feet deep and 108 feet wide in 
which to lay the foundations of the dam in solid rock. 
On this foundation they piled the dam proper until 
its top reached 238 feet above the bed of the river. 
It was a stupendous task and consumed four years 
of time, 90,000 tons of granite and 75,000 barrels of 
cement. The last stone was laid in 1910. 

86 



STORY OF THE GREAT DAMS 



'^Did you ever hear of the dam that was built by 
those Geronimo Indians who made the last vain fight 
against the white man^s civilization? It is the mighty 
Koosevelt dam, in the Salt River Canyon, in Arizona, 
which rears a bulwark of granite 276 feet high. It is a 
romance of civilization and will stand as an enduring 
memorial to the united efforts of white men and 
Indians. Like the Shoshone, it lay in the heart of a 
wilderness, but it was sixty miles from the nearest 
railroad, and this space of primeval forest and moun- 
tains had to be covered with a wagon road. Behind 
the dam to-day is a huge lake covering 16,329 acres. 
If the water were let out, it would cover an area 
greater than the state of Rhode Island a foot deep. 

^^For many years Colorado had the highest dam in 
the world; that was the Cheesman, which blocks the 
south fork of the South Platte River. Behind its 
225-foot granite wall lie thirty billion gallons of 
water, enough to quench the thirsts of all Americans 
for a year, allowing a gallon a day for each person. 
In the Catskill Mountains in New York there is an- 
other great reservoir of water, equal in capacity to 
Colorado's great storage supply. It is the Croton, 
which is the second highest in America, being 297 feet 
high. Boston gets a great part of her water from the 
famous Wachusett reservoir, whose dam is 207 feet 
high, which is equal to the average 16-story skyscrap- 
ing building. 

^^Have you any idea how strong a dam must be?" 
inquired the speaker, ^Ho hold 3,000 acres of water 
thirty feet deep? An American dam engineer found 
out, when he was called upon to stop the leakage of 
the Sevier Bridge Dam, in Colorado. The gates con- 
trolling the only outlet sixty feet below the water level 
had broken and the water, valuable for irrigation pur- 
■^ 87 



WONDER STORIES 



poses, was tearing through with a pressure of 4,000 
pounds to the square foot. This had to be stopped, 
and stopped quickly. When they tried to plug the out- 
let mth sacks of stone, some of which weighed half a 
ton apiece, they were hurled through the opening like 
so many feathers. '^ 

The dam builder paused, and glanced around the 
gathering. 

''That was a task,'' he said impressively, 'Ho test 
the courage and skill of any man. But, fortunately, 
there was an American within call who was equal to 
the task. 

"This resourceful engineer had a solid beam of 
concrete, reinforced with T-irons and steel rods, cast 
in exact scientific form. This was placed across 
the top of the tunnel, its ends resting in grooves cut 
into the solid rocks at either end. From this beam 
2 by 12 fir planks, with the narrowest side toward 
the water, were forced down in the flood and fastened 
together to form a grill. In front of this grill a can- 
vas was sunk, secured to the bottom by a few sacks 
of dirt, and thus the last trickle of water was effect- 
ually stopped. Behind this barrier, the dam builders 
crawled in perfect security and repaired the gates. 

"Is not the story of man's control of water full of 
wonders?" said the Story-teller, in conclusion. "Where 
the element proved unruly, he has curbed it; where 
it was needed, he has compelled it to come ; and when 
he needed its power, he harnessed it. In each case, it 
is by means of the dam that he has accomplished 
his miracle. The dam, indeed, stands as a colossal 
monument to man's subjugation of Nature to his re- 
quirements. It is one of the proudest trophies of our 
civilization." 



88 



THE STORY OF THE OCEAN CABLES 
THAT CONNECT THE CONTINENTS 



THREE Story-tellers stood in a corner of the li- 
brary. There seemed to be a disagreement on 
some important matter. One of them was es- 
pecially agitated. 

^^If it is true,'' he exclaimed, ^^why don't yon 
verify itf" 

^'How!" inquired the perplexed man. 

*^Why, by cable, of course," remarked the third. 

*^ That's a good idea," remarked the man. *'I'll 
do it." So, stepping to the telephone, he called up 
the telegraph office, and in a moment had started an 
important message on its lightning journey nearly 
three thousand miles under the ocean from one hemi- 
sphere to another. 

^* While I am waiting for my answer," he said, ^4et 
me tell you the story of how it became possible to 
flash these messages along the bottom of the seas. We 
owe it to a fellow-countryman, Cyrus W. Field, to 
whom the conception of the ocean cable came as a sud- 
den inspiration. In the year 1850 he was talking with 
his brother Matthew about the possibility of laying a 
telegraph cable across the Straits of Newfoundland. 
At that time, the cable had not been laid across the 
English Channel, connecting France with England, and 
the possibility of an ocean cable had not been dreamed. 
Field, then a rich retired merchant, suddenly turned 
to his brother and said, ^Why cannot America and 
Europe be joined by cable!' 

89 



WONDER STORIES 



^^For some time Ms mind brooded over this great 
idea, and in the meantime the cable joining England 
and the continent of Europe had been laid. At last 
Field wrote to Morse, the inventor of the telegraph, 
and to Commodore Maury, the great hydrographer, 
for their opinions on the practicability of such a pro- 
ject as an Atlantic cable. Both the scientist and the in- 
ventor sent him encouraging words. With these let- 
ters. Field went to Peter Cooper and other prominent 
financiers, whom he won over by his persistent en- 
thusiasm. The first cable company was organized, and 
Field went before Congress for authority for the un- 
dertaking. The general opinion was that Field was 
* wrong in his upper story,' for an ocean cable sounded 
about as real as building a ladder from the earth to 
the moon. 

** Field himself, from the moment he conceived the 
idea, never wavered in his confidence that a two thou- 
sand mile cable could be laid in water ranging in depth 
from two to six miles, but there were a number of per- 
plexing difficulties through which he could not see. It 
was these difficulties that it took eight years to master 
after the first cable ship began its work; and during 
this period — from 1858 to 1866 — ^he bankrupted him- 
self two or three times and wrecked three different 
companies. 

^'It was in August, 1857, that the first momentous 
step was taken in linking together the two hemispheres. 
Two ships — the Niagara, an American naval vessel, 
and the Agamemnon, of the British navy, left Valencia, 
Ireland, in company, each carrying a section of the 
first Atlantic cable. One year later — on August 18, 
1858 — Queen Victoria sent the first cable message un- 
der the Atlantic to President Buchanan. It was, very 
naturally, an occasion of great international rejoicing. 
This first cable had been laid from Ireland to New- 

90 



STORY OF THE OCEAN CABLES 

foundland; it was 2,000 miles in length, and it liad 
cost Field and his company $2,000,000, and the cable 
message of twenty words cost $100. 

** Field's dream was now an accomplished fact. 
The Old World and the New had been brought to- 
gether. But unexpected and heart-breaking trouble 
arose. Even in the midst of Field's great personal 
triumph, the cable suddenly ceased to work. No one 
knew what was the matter, or how to find out, but the 
calamity bankrupted the company. With indomitable 
energy, Field set about to organize a new company, 
but before he could succeed, the United States was 
plunged into the Civil War, and he had to wait. 

*^He chartered the Great Eastern, in 1865, and 
began paying out a new cable from Ireland to New- 
foundland. More trouble ensued. When the Great 
Eastern had arrived within two hundred miles of New- 
foundland, at one of the deepest points in the Atlantic 
Ocean, the cable parted, and more than a million dol- 
lars was lost in the sea. Even then, the indomitable 
Field did not give up. The following year he sent 
out the Great Eastern again to lay a new cable. At 
last success was his. Not only was the cable laid, but 
the cable that had been lost the year before had been 
recovered. The engineers had learned many impor- 
tant lessons.'' 

*^What is the total length of the world's cables?" 
asked some one. 

*^ Enough," answered the Story-teller, *Ho reach 
to the moon, with a trifle to spare. Since the first 
working ocean cable was laid in 1866, more than two 
hundred and forty thousand miles have been laid under 
the seas, and every important seaport city on this globe 
has cable connection with the rest of the world. The 
$5.00 per word rate across the Atlantic from New 
York to London is now less than 40 cents per word. 

91 



WONDER STORIES 



It costs on an average of about 90 cents per word 
to cable the world over. 

*^Tlie two longest ocean cables in the world are 
the British cable from Melbourne to Vancouver, and 
the American cable from San Francisco to Manila. 
The latter is over 7,000 miles long and touches at 
Hawaii, Midway Island, and the Island of Guam. It 
connects all the American possessions in the Pacific. 

*^By a recent invention, cable messages are now 
transferred, without change of instruments, directly 
over land wires. A cable message from London to 
Chicago may thus be sent without relays. This has 
greatly reduced the time of sending a message, as well 
as the cost. 

*'I may say, without fear of contradiction, that 
within the last forty years no one agency has exerted 
a greater influence upon the life of the world than has 
the cable. It has revolutionized not only the methods, 
but the emotions of international policies and diplo- 
macy. The great minister, who used to sit in his cab- 
inet undisturbed and figure and plan what he would 
do with his country's enemies, now sits and watches 
the words on a yellow tape-line that has made him 
nervous and cautious. He is instantly affected by what 
is taking place and by what he knows that others know, 
for the time factor has been diminished to a minimum. 
If, however, the cable has tended to restrain states- 
men, it has sometimes been the means of inflaming the 
man in the street, the international mischief-maker 
and the jingo. 

**Such opportunities would be vastly increased, if 
a thousandth part of what passes on the wires, es- 
pecially between statesmen and diplomats, were al- 
lowed to leak out. Accordingly ciphers are always 
employed in communication between governments and 
their agents, whether in peace or in war. Recent his- 

92 



STORY OF THE OCEAN CABLES 

tory illustrates the value of secrecy in these matters. 
When the Spanish-American War was brewing, the 
Spanish Minister in Washington, Dupuy De Lome, 
would himself write his cipher dispatches, break them 
up, and file them at two or three different offices in 
Washington, Philadelphia, and New York, to safe- 
guard their secrets to his home government or to Gen- 
eral Weyler in Cuba. But the spies of the United 
States government soon mastered his code, and, when 
they found that he called President McKinley Hhe 
old fox,* the words spread like wildfire and did no 
little to hasten the war. On the eve of that war, by 
the way, the code for the United States Navy was 
worked out. It is said to be the most complete and 
efficient system ever devised; and it speaks well for 
it that, during that war, none of the spies of the foreign 
governments were able to master the ciphers. 

**Who can estimate the effect of the cable on busi- 
ness? Billions of dollars in the world's commerce now 
depend directly upon the cable. Before the Atlantic 
cable there was little or no business in international 
stocks and Wall Street did not take its present com- 
manding place in the financial world until the cable 
enabled it to get into close touch with the London 
market. Now there is daily over a hundred millions 
of dollars' worth of business on the world's cables. 

**Such, in few words," said the speaker, in conclu- 
sion, **have been the results to the world of the enter- 
prise and the dogged perseverance of Cyrus Field, 
the pioneer of the cable. This epoch-making invention 
has worked a silent revolution among men. It has 
changed the face of the earth." 



93 



THE STOKY OF THE ARCHITECT AXD 
OUR GREAT SKYSCRAPERS 



THE brilliant lights of the city flickered like 
myriads of jewels in the night. The tall, ghost- 
like forms of huge structures rose from the glow 
of the streets into the dark, star-lit skies — ^massive 
pyramids of stone, and steel, and brick. 

^'The marvel of marvels!" exclaimed one of the 
Story-tellers, as he gazed at the vision that lay before 
him like a dream city from some ancient legend. ''Man 
has done some wonderful things, but his most colossal 
achievement is this — the twentieth century city." 

The Story-tellers gathered about the window and 
looked out on the modern towers of Babel. The streets 
looked like canyons lying deep between the gigantic 
walls of masonry. The crowds passing through them 
were like ants in comparison — and yet they had built 
it with their own hands. 

''Let the master-builder tell us about it!" sug- 
gested one of the onlookers. "Tell us how man has 
defied the elements, how he has built stone by stone 
until he pierces the clouds with his abodes." 

"I often wonder," replied the builder, "where and 
when it will end. We build our massive structures; 
lightning' plays about their towers; the storms beat 
against them; the earthquakes rumble beneath them. 
And if perchance they fall, we throw them up again 
greater and more daring than before — as if to chal- 
lenge Nature. 

"It is a story of romance and adventure," ex- 

94 



STORY OF SKYSCRAPERS 



claimed the master-builder. *^A great many years of 
the world's history went by before man learned to 
build. Very, very slowly he acquired skill enough to 
provide a place of shelter for himself. We can imag- 
ine his joj when he discovered that it was no longer 
necessary for him to live in the cave — ^he could build 
a hut. Then he discovered that he could erect a place 
of abode with logs. One day he found that by erecting 
a framework of beams and posts he could build a 
house. What a great advance in architecture that 
must have been. 

'^This progress did not come in a year or in ten 
years or even in a century. Inventions came slowly 
in the early history of civilization. But from these 
rude beginnings there came in time great develop- 
ments. The Pyramids of Egypt still excite the won- 
der and admiration of modern engineers. The Greeks 
with their passion for beauty built far more lovely 
if less enduring structures. The Romans introduced 
the arch and erected stately edifices and vast theatres. 

*^Then man seemed to lose his grip. He fell back 
into the dark ages. Italy was overrun by Northern 
tribes, whose needs were simple and whose ways were 
savage. The art of building beautifully was gone, and 
rude dwellings and temples replaced the majestic 
structures of former days. Gradually, however, civil- 
ization tamed the wild spirits of the conquerors. Out 
of the chaos there emerged the architecture that we 
know to-day as Gothic. The spires of a hundred 
churches pointed skywards. There was a new awak- 
ening to beauty, a new desire to build. 

*^ Great cities sprung into existence, becoming more 
and more crowded. Towards the end of the eighteenth 
century men came in throngs, to the center of civiliza- 
tion. A new problem began to develop with the years. 
Where were all the industries, upon which depended 

95 



WONDER STORIES 



the greatness of these modern cities to be housed? 
The builders of the Middle Ages had fashioned lofty 
church towers only for the sake of beauty. Now it 
was necessary to raise tall structures because there 
was no room to spread them over the ground — they 
must reach up toward the skies, where space is il- 
limitable. 

**The erection of tall structures was not wholly a 
new idea. We read in the Bible that a group of wicked 
men started to build a tower to heaven, but were 
halted and punished for their presumption. Their 
tongues were stricken with divers languages so they 
might not understand one another's speech. But even 
if this punishment had not overtaken them they could 
not have proceeded very far. The winds would have 
rocked and swayed their tower. The laborers would 
have worn themselves out with the unbearable toil. 
A great pile of stones the Tower of Babel might have 
been, but hardly a habitable building. 

**It remained for the Americans to dare to resume 
this undertaking," exclaimed the builder. **Land was 
becoming very scarce in great cities like New York, 
Chicago and Philadelphia. Men saw the only way to 
build tall structures was to use steel. So about 1880 
a new era was inaugurated — and America became a 
leader in a new kind of architecture. Huge skeletons 
of steel were erected, and these supported everything 
within and without ; about them were built the gigan- 
tic walls of masonry. Tenants could not reasonably 
be expected to climb ten stories to their offices, so 
the elevator solved the next problem. 

'* These huge buildings were first regarded with 
doubt but soon they ceased to be an experiment and 
the new age of the sky-scraper was ushered in. The 
skylines of the cities assumed a majestic ruggedness. 
Each builder strove to outdo the others. The twenty- 

96 



STORY OF SKYSCRAPERS 



story structure was soon overshadowed by the build- 
ing of thirty stories. Soon came defiant structures of 
forty and fifty stories. Where the race will end no 
one dare predict. '^ 

^^The building of the sky-scraper is in itself a 
miracle," exclaimed the Story-teller. ^'It does not 
take hundreds of years and tens of thousands of men 
like the Pyramids. It does not take decades. It is 
only a matter of days. Day and night the toil goes on. 
Drills burrow a hundred feet into the earth to reach 
bedrock. A battery of derricks is put into place, huge 
machines that lift tons and tons of steel with no seem- 
ing effort. At midnight, when the streets are deserted, 
mighty steel beams are delivered on ponderous 
wagons ready to be used by the iron-workers. The 
gaunt steel skeleton almost leaps into the air. After 
the erection of every ten stories, the derricks are 
raised. The relentless noise of riveting machines fills 
the air. By sunlight one gang of men ply their trade ; 
by electric light another gang continues. While the 
upper stories of the framework are put into place, 
stoneworkers and bricklayers are completing the lower 
stories. 

^*It has been estimated that at times the work goes 
on at the rate of a story a week. Is this not modern 
magic? The framework of a large New York depart- 
ment store containing 22,000,000 pounds of steel was 
erected in only four hundred hours. To the glory of 
the contractors be it said that as a rule these colossal 
buildings are erected with almost no loss of life. The 
laborers walk and work on narrow steel beams 600 
feet and more above the sidewalk, but seldom fall. 

* ^ The largest building in the world at this moment 
is the Woolworth Building in New York, the city of 
sky-scrapers. Its foundations are laid in its lowest 
sub-basement 120 feet beneath the sidewalk, and its 

97 



WONDER STORIES 



flag floats 905 feet higher. It towers 55 stories high. 
Forty-six million pounds of steel were used for its 
skeleton; 17,000,000 bricks are mortared in its walls, 
together with 2,500 square feet of cut stone and 7,500 
tons of terra-cotta. The building contains 1,800,000 
square feet of floor tiles and the same area of partition 
tiles. There are twenty-six elevators each so made 
that were it to drop from the top floor it would auto- 
matically come to a gentle stop long before it reached 
the bottom. 

^'The modern sky-scraper is a veritable city in it- 
self, containing an actual population greater than that 
of many flourishing communities. The tenant of one of 
the great office buildings may live in his room year in 
and year out and still enjoy all the comforts of life. 
A restaurant on the top floor serves his meals. Down- 
stairs there are stores of all kinds. There are news- 
stands and even theaters. There are barbers in the 
basement, and there are tailors and confectioners, 
doctors and lawyers, brokers and bankers — all trades 
and occupations within immediate call. Some of the 
sky-scrapers have gymnasiums on the roof.'' 

The Story-teller raised his voice to command atten- 
tion. He pointed his finger in emphasis and in con- 
clusion declared : 

^^The new buildings are not hideous creations. On 
the other hand, they are inspiring to behold, full of 
dignified beauty — the finest examples of architecture 
in America. When we remember that some of the 
great European cathedrals took six and seven cen- 
turies to build, we will gaze with even greater wonder 
upon these newer edifices, which spring from the earth 
in a year.'' 



98 



THE STORY OF THE MAN IN THE CAB 
BEHIND THE LOCOMOTIVE 



THE grand old man leaned on a gold-headed cane. 
His hair and brows were whitened by many 
years. His shoulders were slightly stooped, but 
his voice was clear and strong. 

^^I have lived,'' he said, reminiscently, ^^ through 
the mightiest age that the world has yet known. In 
the span of this single life of fourscore years, I 
have seen the world awaken from its slumbers like a 
mighty giant and shake off the habits and customs of 
the centuries. Knowledge, plenty, and beneficence 
abound. The earth's dark and silent places of my 
youth are now known and mapped, and are visited in 
luxury and safety by the tourist. The things that in 
^^y boyhood only those of wealth could hope to own 
or see are the common heritages of the modern 
laborer." 

The recollections of eighty years flooded the old 
Story-teller 's memory. 

^^The world has been made over again since I was 
born!" he exclaimed. '^It is a miracle — and the 
miracle worker is the railway locomotive. I have seen 
in my lifetime the many miracles the locomotive has 
magically performed. I have seen it literally pick 
up our western frontier along the Missouri and carry 
it on its pilot to the beating surf of the Pacific. I 
have seen it magically touch barren spots in the desert 
and create populous and rich cities and farm lands. I 
have seen it hurtle over or through mountain ranges, 

99 



WONDER STORIES 



or across deep roaring rivers or broad-bosomed in- 
land seas, while drawing behind it palatial traveling 
coaches laden with human freight. ' ' 

The Story-teller smiled reflectively. 

**I still remember the first steam locomotive I ever 
saw," he said, reminiscently. ^*It was the first Amer- 
ican made and operated engine, and had the name of 
^Best Friend.' It was in the year 1830 — of course I 
was but a mere lad then — when I was visiting in South 
Carolina. While walking along the highway, my boy- 
ish curiosity was aroused by parallel rows of logs laid 
down and supporting twin strips of timber on the top 
of which strips of iron were fastened. I was aroused 
from my speculations upon its nature by the shrieks 
of twenty panthers, so it seemed, and was frightened 
to witness what appeared to be, generally speaking, an 
enlarged soda water bottle standing upright upon a 
wooden platform which in turn was mounted on moving 
wheels along the rails. It was bathed in a shower of 
fire, smoke and cinders. Its designer was Adam Hall, 
and it had been built at the West Point Foundry, in 
New York City. 

*^ Later," the speaker continued, **I learned that 
this was not the first in the world. An Englishman, 
George Stephenson, had in the previous year (1829) 
run a race with his engine, the 'Rocket,' at Eainhill, 
England^ at the speed of 30 miles an hour. Another 
Englishman, Trevithick, had contrived a wonderful 
machine, in 1803, with walking beams and cranks and 
cogged gearings which stalked along the British high- 
ways like a monster from Mars, if there are any, 
clouded in steam and smoke and heralded by clanking 
beams and bars. It was known as the 'grasshopper,' 
and certainly resembled it. It indeed was a monster 
and inspired terror wherever it went — and frequently 
it went where it was not wanted. For instance, it 

100 



STORY OF THE LOCOMOTIVE 



one day ploughed tlirough a garden fence and up to 
a toll bridge gate. 

** * Hello!' exclaimed Trevithick, who was driving 
the machine. * Here's a toll gate — ^how much is there 
to pay r 

^*The toll keeper stood, transfixed with horror and 
speechless, in the midde of the road. 

** * What's to pay?' Trevithick demanded once 
more. 

*' *Na — na,' was the stammering reply. ^There's 
naught to pay, de — dear Mr. Deevil! Ah-r-rr, do 
drive on!' " 

^'I felt about the same as the toll keeper," said 
the Story-teller, when laughter subsided, ^ ' when I first 
saw a locomotive. And you probably would be as- 
tonished at least if you had never seen or heard of 
a locomotive and were suddenly confronted by one of 
our modern monster engines, measuring over eighty 
feet in length from tender to pilot, weighing some 
750,000 pounds, and pulling 155 loaded fifty-ton ca- 
pacity freight cars. 

*^I still remember some of the comments of our 
American people when the locomotive began to move 
about our country. The oracles of the country grocery 
store discussed its possibilities pro and con. One 
enthusiast, bold enough to predict forty miles an hour, 
was silenced by the vigorous protest: *Be ye a fool? Ye 
never could live to ride like that. It 'd take yer breath 
away. ' 

^^ About the time of the Civil War railway locomo- 
tives became common sights all over our Eastern coun- 
try — or I should say, uncommon in the light of these 
days. Then the engine was the engineer's pet and 
accordingly was decorated in curious fashion. One 
engine running in New England had a frame of highly 
polished steel, a cab decorated with mahogany and 

101 



WONDER STORIES 



solid walnut and cab windows of stained glass. The 
drivers were painted red, and from the cab to the 
sand box polished brass fittings glittered in the sun. 
On the side of the headlight was painted the United 
States coat of arms. Even the engineer was decorated 
in a spotless suit of white duck, and looked much like 
a yacht's captain. The engines in early days bore 
names instead of numbers, and in the railroad round- 
houses the names ^Andromeda,' ^ Venus,' 'Orient,' and 
'Adonis,' are still recalled in reminiscence. 

''Great changes have been wrought in locomo- 
tives," said the Story-teller. "Nowadays compressed 
air rings the bell, sands the track ahead of the driving 
wheels so they won't slip, and even operates the bar 
which reverses the power of the engine. Recently an 
automatic device has been created which will shovel 
and stoke the fire, and another device has appeared 
which enables the fireman to open the door to his 
flaming furnace automatically. 

"Of course, the greatest change has been in their 
might. Recently one of our mighty locomotives hurtled 
over its steel rails at the rate of a mile in half a 
minute, or 120 miles an hour. Their length has grown 
until, in the case of one engine operating on a Western 
road, the boiler has been hinged by a flexible joint 
so that it can go around a curve without upsetting. 
Another, running on a Southern road, is so monstrous 
that a small switching locomotive was placed within 
its firebox — ^it weighed with its tender 376 tons. It 
carries 12,000 gallons of water and 30,000 pounds of 
coal. Such a machine as this will have more than 
7,000 parts. 

"Steam has proven one of man's greatest benefac- 
tors. But in this age of marvels it would seem that 
even steam must give way before the newer methods. 
Already we have powerful electric locomotives which 

102 



STORY OF THE LOCOMOTIVE 



perform the work of steam-driven engines, and at a 
lower cost of operation. Then recently gasoline loco- 
motives have been introduced to the railway world, as 
well as mighty oil-bnrning engines. In view of this, 
who can say that steam will not follow in the footsteps 
of the horse as a motive power in transportation f ' ^ 

**How many locomotives are there in the United 
States f asked some one. 

' * About 65,000 in 1913, ' ' the speaker replied. ' * And 
they burn up in a yearns time about 150,000,000 tons 
of coal to carry over a trackage of 250,000 miles 
passengers to the number of 1,020,000,000 and freight 
that weighs in the aggregate 1,818,000,000 tons. 

**That is what our locomotives mean to us to- 
day," said the octogenarian, in conclusion. *^How 
long, do you think, could our great cities, our rural 
districts, our mighty industries and vast commercial 
interests exist without the tireless locomotive! I claim 
that the locomotive carries modern civilization upon its 
pilot. A few hours' cessation of its ceaseless energy, 
and millions of people would be in idleness and want. 
The wheat of the field, the produce of the farms, the 
products of the factories would be useless and unprof- 
itable. These steel machines must keep in never-ending 
motion to sustain and strengthen modern civilization, 
to banish distances, to spread the mails and knowledge 
broadcast, to mold the whole land into a neighborhood 
and make business a success." 



103 



THE STORY OF THE JOURXALIST AXD 
THE MAKIXG OF A XEWSPAPER 



EXTEA! Extra! All about the ship sinking in 
mid-ocean!'' 
The startling message wafted into the library 
through the open windows. One of the Story-tellers 
leaped to his feet and disappeared through the door, 
while the rest of the gathering sat in silence awaiting 
his return. A lean and energetic man arose and crossed 
to the library table. 

*^This is the opportune moment," he said, in short 
but illuminating words, ''for my story — the romance 
of modern news gathering. I'll wager that less than 
an hour has passed from the time that ship met with 
disaster to the time that newsboy's cry aroused us 
to the frailty of human life. If I am right I believe 
you will grant me that our modern method of gather- 
ing news is one of the greatest wonders of the genera- 
tion." 

"You win!" cried the returned Story-teller. "This 
newspaper," waving the still damp sheet in his hand, 
"says that a passenger liner crashed into an iceberg 
500 miles off the coast of England about 58 minutes 
ago." 

This information visibly impressed the Story- 
tellers. The first speaker, the editor, then continued: 

"That is the marvel of the modern newspaper — 
the way it gathers its news from all parts of the earth, 
whether it is from Canton, Ohio, or Canton, China, 
and spreads it before its readers in less time than it 

104 



STORY OF THE NEWSPAPER 



would take you to travel from your home to the tavern 
where in olden times the news was passed by word of 
mouth among the gathering/* 

*^How can you do it?" exclaimed a voice. 

^'By means of telegraph, wireless and land and 
submarine, or by means of telephone and the assistance 
of a loyal army of correspondents thousands strong. 
The telegraphs and telephones reach into every corner 
of the civilized earth, and within easy reach of them 
are the correspondents whose faculties are so highly 
developed that it is said that they ^can smell a story.' 
They are always on the alert for any bits of news that 
may prove of interest to the readers who may be sit- 
uated on the other side of the world. 

* ' These men and women are supplying about 65,000 
newspapers throughout the world with news — the 
United States alone has nearly 25,000 which must be 
constantly fed with the world's events. The growth 
of the newspaper is a miracle, but it requires another 
miracle, quick communication, to make it possible. The 
first American periodical publication was published 
but once — on September 25, 1690. Its publisher, 
Richard Pierce, of Boston, was probably one of the 
most unique editors this country has ever seen. He 
dubbed his paper ^Public Occurrences, Both Foreign 
and Domestic,' and requested the citizens of the tov/n 
to send him the names of those persons who were re- 
sponsible for the false rumors circulating through the 
town, or in other words, it was his plan to print a list 
each week of all the liars in Boston. The paper was 
suppressed, it is needless to add. Then came the 
paper which historians claim as the first regular Amer- 
ican periodical, the historic Boston News-Letter, pub- 
lished on April 24, 1704. 

''In the intervening two centuries the newspaper 
has been revolutionized. No department has seen such 

105 



WONDER STORIES 



changes as has the news gathering end. The modern 
era of news gathering dates from the birth of the tele- 
graph and telephone and the ocean cable. Prior to this 
the methods *of ' quick communication, ' the key-note of 
a newspaper, wereby pony express, by carrier pigeons, 
and later by railroad and fast sailing steamboats. 
Many newspaper editors remember the sixty blooded 
horses which ran in relays between Baltimore and 
New Orleans to carry to Editor A. S. Abell the latest 
news from the battlefields of the Mexican War, and 
thus enabled him to supply the government with news 
thirty hours before its own methods of communica- 
tion could bring the same story. 

^'To-day we can get such war news as soon as it 
happens, almost, from our correspondents who are 
with the vanguard of one of the contending armies. 
This news is not only sent to one newspaper, but is 
distributed simultaneously through thousands of other 
offices. That is the magic of our modern methods. 

*^It was a group of Americans who conceived the 
idea of a news gathering agency, in the year 1848. 
To-day the American agencies are the greatest in the 
world. A single one of these agencies gathers news 
from all over the world at an annual expense of over 
$3,000,000. It sends its news constantly, day and 
night, to over 800 newspapers in the United States 
at the rate of more than 300,000,000 words a year. 

*'Let us peep into one of the agency's offices. It 
is a clearing house of foreign and domestic occurrences. 
Scores of exceptionally expert telegraphers are seated 
at their desks and steadily sending out messages. A 
man stands at the head of the room shouting out the 
result of some football or baseball game, or any other 
event, and the telegraphers send his story to the w^ait- 
ing editors all over the country. At the other end 
of the telegraph wire a receiver is taking the message 

106 



STORY OF THE NEWSPAPER 



on a typewriter. The latter can easily outstrip the 
swiftest dispatcher, so the dispatcher condenses his 
message into cryptic messages. The average person 
could not read one of these. Let me give you an ex- 
ample. ' ' 

The editor thought for a moment and then wrote 
the following and passed it among the gathering: 

t scotus tdy dcdd 5 pw f potus dz n xtd — etc. 

'^It looks like a Chinese laundry check,'' said one 
of the Story-tellers. 

*^This is what that message means to the telegraph 
editor," said the speaker: 

^The Supreme Court of the United States to- 
day decided that the power of the President 
of the United States does not extend — etc' 

^' These agencies sometimes meet with great emer- 
gencies when storms are sweeping our country. They 
can not close up shop and wait for their v/ires to be 
re-established — they must find a way to send their 
news. During the great blizzard of 1888, all com- 
munication was cut off between Boston and New York. 
The news then was cabled to London and returned 
to the American continent by way of Canso in Nova 
Scotia, and from there to Boston, thus sending its 
news for more than 7,000 miles to reach newspaper 
offices situated only 233 miles away. 

**So great has become the demand for news that 
the methods of gathering local news have been rev- 
olutionized. To-day the reporter on metropolitan 
dailies receives his assignment from the city editor 
over the telephone, possibly, or in the editor's office. 
He hurries away with the editor's 'Get the story' ring- 
ing in his ears — excuses do not pass in a newspaper 
office. Probably a few moments later the reporter has 

107 



WONDER STORIES 



the story and then he darts for the nearest telephone 
and tells the outline of the facts to the * re-write^ man 
who composes the tale on a typewriter while the other 
reporter, known as the ^leg-man,' scurries away on the 
trail of another story to feed the voracious maw of 
the printing press." 

*^The newspaper," said the Story-teller, *4s one of 
the most powerful agencies in our modern civilization. 
It can sway the destinies of individuals or govern- 
ments. This was recognized many years ago by the 
Parliament of England. It was one of its members 
who, while addressing his fellow-legislators, turned to 
the newspaper gallery and exclaimed: ^ There is the 
Fourth Estate. ' The three other estates, as you proba- 
bly know, are the Lords spiritual, the Lords temporal, 
and the Commons." 

The editor paused and glanced at his watch. Pick- 
ing up his hat and cane he moved toward the door say- 
ing: 

*^My time is up. It is time I began my trick on 
the city desk where during the night while you folks 
are sleeping the sleep of the just I will be listening 
to all the pathos, the tragedy and humor of the world 
which I must have ready for you when you come down 
to your breakfast table in the morning. If any great 
story * breaks' then I am liable to have you awakened 
by the vigorous voices of the newsboys crying * Extra! 
Extra!' " — the closing door drowned the remaining 
words. 



108 



THE STORY OF THE POSTMASTER AND 
THE MARVELS OF THE POST-OFFICE 



"T S there any one in the room who would like to try 
1 to count up to 17,588,658,941?" 

It was a man of middle age, with a gray mous- 
tache and a bald head, who asked the question. 

^'Does no one wish to undertake this taskT' he in- 
quired. 

^'How long will it takeT' asked an ambitious 
woman, who was sitting on the red divan. 

^^Well,'' remarked the bald-headed gentleman, ^4f 
you are quick at figures, you can probably do it in 
something like 10,000 years." 

**I fear I am too old to undertake it," retorted the 
woman, facetiously. ^'But what has that to do with 
your story?" 

**That is the whole plot to my story," replied the 
truthful romancer, *4t is the story of the post-office — 
and that is the number of pieces of mail that were 
hurled through our wonderful postal system during 
this last year." 

*^Hail to the postmaster!" exclaimed a dozen 
voices. 

'* Friends," remarked the postmaster, ^^you can have 
no idea of the marvelous system that brings your mail 
every morning. It is one of the most perfect demon- 
strations of the genius of organization that has ever 
been conceived and developed by the brains of men. 
The sending and receiving of a single letter on sched- 
ule time is alone no mean accomplishment. What, 
then, does it mean to keep some 50,000,000 going and 

109 



WONDER STORIES 



coming every moment of the day — each in different 
directions, crossing each other's paths, penetrating 
every nook and corner of the land, hnt arriving almost 
at the appointed instant? It is almost like legerde- 
main — it literally snows letters into every town and 
city in the United States every day. So enormous has 
the system become that it forms the arteries of mnch 
of the world ^s trade. "When the mails are delayed, the 
whole business community is thrown out of gear. It 
is not only the great endless channel for business 
agreements and communications, but it is the pur- 
veyor of joy and sorrow; it carries the tidings of for- 
tune and disaster; it is entrusted with the responsi- 
bility of breaking the news of birth and death; it is 
the broad highway of love and marriage. 

^^This stupendous system of communication 
through correspondence to-day requires 58,729 post- 
offices, which it costs over $250,000,000 to keep in oper- 
ation. It requires postmasters, carriers, and other 
workers to send and deliver these communications. It 
keeps railroad trains, horses, and automobiles going 
day and night." 

^ ' How and when did all this begin — and where will 
it endr' interrupted a listener. 

^^It began with an effort to meet the needs of the 
people," quickly answered the postmaster, ''and it 
has ended as a habit that demands more and more all 
the time. During the first years in America, the 
settlers experienced much difficulty in getting word to 
each other. It was finally decided, in 1639, that all let- 
ters brought from beyond the seas, or sent thither, be 
left at the house of Eichard Fairbanks, in Boston. He 
agreed to take care that they be delivered or sent ac- 
cording to direction. Thus was started the first post- 
office in the English colonies in America. Not until 
1691, however, was there a regular American post. 

110 



STORY OF THE POST-OFFICE 



In that year a royal patent gave Thomas Neale con- 
trol of the intercolonial post-office. The first Ameri- 
can postmaster-general was Andrew Hamilton. He 
established a system of mail transportation on May 
Day, 1693. Through a system of relays of riders on 
horseback and stage coaches, he succeeded in getting 
letters safely through the wilderness from Ports- 
mouth, New Hampshire, to Boston, New York, Phila- 
delphia, Maryland, and Virginia. It was considered 
a notable event when the New Yorkers and Virginians 
started a weekly exchange of mails in 1717. 

^'The most famous of the early postmasters was 
Benjamin Franklin, who became postmaster at Phila- 
delphia in 1737. Some years later, when the nation 
was being formed, Continental Congress appointed 
Franklin head of an independent post-office at a salary 
of $1,000 a year — a large income at that time. The 
Post-office Department was officially established as a 
branch of the government in 1794, but the postmaster- 
general was not made a member of the President's 
cabinet until Andrew Jackson's administration. Death 
was the early penalty for robbing the mails. Letters 
w^ere first conveyed in steamboats in 1813 ; the experi- 
ment was regarded with the same feeling of wonder 
which recently greeted the news that our own post- 
office had enlisted the aid of the aeroplane. 

*'It cost from six to twenty-five cents to send a let- 
ter in the first days of the republic. The rate depended 
on the distance that the post-riders had to travel. Let- 
ters written upon a single sheet of paper could be sent 
any distance not over thirty miles for six cents; not 
over 80 miles for 10 cents ; not over 150 miles for 12^^ 
cents; not over 400 miles for 18% cents; and greater 
distances for 25 cents. So many letters were being 
lost that Congress established the dead letter office in 
1825, to which all lost letters could be delivered. 

Ill 



WONDER STORIES 



a 



Every one who has ever collected stamps knows 
that the first United States postage stamps were used 
in 1847. They were of the 5 and 10 cent denomina- 
tions and bore the likeness of Franklin and Washing- 
ton respectively. The first railway post-office in the 
United States was established in 1862. Stamped en- 
velopes were introduced in 1863. Public letter boxes 
were erected in that same year, and letters were de- 
livered free in cities of 50,000 population. The money 
order system was established in 1864. 

*^But the master-stroke came in 1897, when the 
whole country was benefited by the establishment of 
the rural free delivery. What this change meant to 
the farmer cannot be overestimated. It did away with 
his oppressive loneliness and made him a part of civil- 
ization. It brought the world's news to his door, and 
gave him a larger view of life. I do not know of any- 
thing that the United States could do for that small 
amount of money that is doing as much good as the 
free delivery. When rural free delivery was intro- 
duced, 83 carriers were employed, who covered 1,843 
miles daily. The cost of the service was $49,999.71. 
Fifteen years later there were 42,199 carriers in this 
branch of the service, covering 1,021,492 miles daily, 
and the cost was $41,856,061. As I have told you in 
the beginning of this story, more than seventeen bil- 
lions of pieces of postal matter of all kinds passed 
through the mails in 1912. There were 9,960,968,785 
ordinary postage stamps issued, valued at $181,121,- 
762.59. The postal cards numbered 909,411,045, which 
were turned off by the government on presses that 
print 144 cards per second — ^more than half a million 
in an hour. Domestic money orders were issued to 
the extent of 85,286,380, representing a value of $594,- 
901,623.90; there were 3,708,773 international money 
orders, amounting to $86,095,404. 

112 



STORY OF THE POST-OFFICE 



^^The post-office grew with leaps and bounds. It 
extended its wonderful service in every conceivable 
direction. There were 75 post-offices in the United 
States in 1789 ; there were 58,729 in 1912. The reve- 
nue of the department was $7,510 in 1789 ; the revenue 
was $246,744,015 in 1912. The sum of $1,657 was paid 
in salaries to postmasters in 1789 ; the postmasters re- 
ceived $28,467,726 from the government in 1912. 

^^The wonder story of the post-office has only be- 
gun. Nearly every year some ingenious plan is de- 
veloped to give the American people larger and freer 
service. To-day the post-office is the people's bank. 
It undertakes to keep money in safety for the wage- 
earners. More than 300,000 people deposited $28,- 
000,000 with the Postal Savings banks last year. This 
is not all, for, in 1912, the post-office introduced the 
great system known as the parcels post, which de- 
livers packages at low cost in every part of the coun- 
try. This innovation is one of the greatest public 
services of the times. 

**I cannot undertake to tell you here of the mar- 
velous systems that have been created to help fulfill 
these duties for the people'' said the Story-teller in 
conclusion. ** Intricate machinery has been brought 
into use ; mechanical devices have been invented. Mail 
bags are shot through wonderful chutes at almost 
lightning speed. Tunnels have been built under cities ; 
underground railways have been constructed; letters 
are hurled through automatic tubes by compressed 
air. Soon, we may receive our letters from the skies, 
for the marvels of man are beyond all human compre- 
hension. We never know what man is going to do 
next — ^until he does it." 



113 



THE STORY OF THE INVENTOR AND 
THE GENIUS OF THE PATENT OFFICE 



ONE day the Story-tellers were engaged in 
animated conversation, when an alert-looking 
man, with bright, inqnisitive eyes, entered. 

^*A¥hat is all this discussion about f he asked, 
smilingly. 

^'Oh, we were talking about inventions," some one 
replied. ^^Some of us think that we could make for- 
tunes if we could only put into practical shape the 
ideas floating in our heads." 

^'Perhaps you might," he replied. *^0n the other 
hand, you might not. The air is full of inventions, 
good, bad, and indifferent. I may tell you that I am 
an inventor myself, and, if you wish it, I will tell you 
the story of the Mecca of inventors — the Patent Office 
at Washington." 

Unanimous approval was expressed, and the in- 
ventor proceeded: 

^ ^ We are a nation of inventors — we are millionaires 
in inventions- I mean that the Patent Office has re- 
cently issued its millionth patent. Think of it — a mil- 
lion patents, out of a total of three million for the 
whole world! And this takes no account of about 
10,000 patents granted before 1836, or of patents issued 
by the colonial governments." 

^^Who got the millionth patent?" inquired one of 
the party. 

*^It was an Ohio man — Francis H. Holton," an- 
swered the Story-teller, ^'for a non-puncturable auto- 

114 



STORY OF THE PATENT OFFICE 

mobile tire. Over 38,000 patents were granted out of 
68,000 applications tiled in 1912 — and still they come! 
What would the Commissioner of Patents of the year 
1845 say to this? He reported the granting of 637 
patents in a twelvemonth, making a total of 15,000, 
and commented as follows : ^ It may with truth be said 
that within a very short time human ingenuity will 
have reached its limit.' If the good commissioner 
could take a peep into the Patent Office to-day, he 
would be very shy of putting any limit to American 
ingenuity. ' ' 

'^When was the first patent issued in the world!'' 
asked a Story-teller of an historical turn of mind. 

''The first recorded patent," replied the inventor, 
''was issued in the fourteenth century by Edward III, 
of England, and the nature of it was characteristic 
of the times. It was granted to two friars and two 
aldermen for an 'alleged discovery of the philosopher's 
stone, ' or, in other words, of the secret of transmuting^ 
baser metals into gold. I am afraid it would stand 
no chance with our Patent Office, which, by the way, 
has a standing rule barring any invention connected 
with perpetual motion. 

"The first patent ever issued to an inventor in 
America was granted in 1646, by the General Court 
of Massachusetts Bay, to Joseph Jenks, for an im- 
proved scythe. We made a start, you will observe, 
with something really serviceable. 

*'The Patent Office dates practically from the First 
Congress of the United States, in 1790. The patent 
system was provided for in the federal constitution, 
and Washington brought the matter before Congress 
in his earliest address. A law was passed creating 
a patent commission, consisting of the Secretary of 
State, the Secretary of War, and the Attorney-Gen- 
eral. The first patent was granted to Samuel Hopkins, 

115 



WONDER STORIES 



of Vermont, for a mode of manufacturing potash and 
pearl-ash. 

^'A serious fire destroyed all the records and 
models of the Patent Office in 1836. Every effort was 
made to replace them, and work was commenced on the 
present building, which is justly considered one of 
the most beautiful public edifices in the country. In 
the same year, the office of Commissioner of Patents 
was created and later assigned to the Department 
of the Interior. A second destructive fire burnt up 
114,000 models in 1877. Nowadays, models are not 
required, except where drawings are found inade- 
quate. ' ' 

' ' How do you take out a patent ? ' ' inquired a young 
lady sitting near. 

^' First be sure," replied the Story-teller, ^'that 
your invention is of a useful character. Then you 
must make a sketch of it, or have a photograph of a 
model made, and write a description of it. You then 
file your application at the Patent Office, either per- 
sonally or by mail, paying a fee of $15. In return, 
the government makes a searching investigation, in 
order to ascertain whether your idea has been patented 
before. Unlike the patentee in most foreign countries, 
the American inventor can be reasonably sure of his 
invention really belonging to him and being protected 
by law. Should the government decide to issue the 
patent, an additional fee of $20 is required. The 
patent holds good for 17 years. 

^ ' The American passion for invention has succeeded 
in making the Patent Office a big revenue producer, 
and it has already a surplus of about $7,000,000 to its 
credit. Needless to say, the inventions patented are 
of every conceivable kind. The Patent Office puts 
them under forty-three general divisions, which are 
divided and subdivided again. This minute classifica- 

116 



STORY OF THE PATENT OFFICE 

tion facilitates the investigations made with reference 
to each new application.'^ 

*^In what field is the greatest number of patents 
issued?" asked the engineer. 

^^In that of transportation," answered the inven- 
tor. **But, to take a different classification, electrical 
appliances take up nearly an eighth of the total num- 
ber. Edison alone has taken out nearly a thousand 
patents; needless to say, he is the champion patentee 
of the world, with no one else within measurable dis- 
tance. It sounds incredible, but not a day passes 
that at least one application for an electrical patent 
is not received, and more often the number reaches 
twenty. A visit to the Patent Office forcibly reminds 
us of the important part that electricity is playing 
in our modern life. Many electrical inventions are 
associated with farming, and indeed farm machinery 
of all kinds is a favorite subject of the inventor." 

*^I understand there is a lot of money in inven- 
tions," remarked the banker. 

*' Sometimes," replied the Story-teller. **It is es- 
timated that one invention in twenty-five repays 
the cost of taking out a patent. Some of the simplest 
inventions pay the best. The metal plates worn on 
the soles of shoes to protect them from wear brought 
their inventor about a million and a half dollars in 
a few years. Among the biggest fortunes ever made 
from inventions were those that accrued respectively 
from the glass bells hung over gas to protect ceilings 
from being. blackened, and from simply putting emery 
powder on cloth. More than a million dollars has 
been earned by the gimlet-pointed screw, the inventor 
of which was so poor that he trudged on foot from 
Philadelphia to Washington to get his patent; the 
roller skate brought in a similar amount. 

**Some huge businesses have been built up on in- 

117 



WONDER STORIES 



ventions. The manufacture of patented agricultural 
implements alone represents a capital investment of 
about $200,000,000. The investment in the sewing- 
machine industry is $21,000,000. In electrical manu- 
factures over $174,000,000 is invested. All these great 
businesses are based on our patent laws — came out 
of the Patent Office, as it were. 

^^The Patent Office has its humorous side. The 
freak inventor is ever in evidence. I am not referring 
to mechanical toys, many of which are extremely in- 
genious and have brought large fortunes to their 
originators; but to the products of fertile but cranky 
brains. Such, for instance, as a device for inducing 
sleep, in the form of a collar, which would seem cal- 
culated to produce an eternal sleep. One man invented 
a plow that could be used as a cannon, with what 
object I cannot imagine. A remarkable architectural 
freak was a house built in the shape of an elephant, 
which was patented by a Philadelphia man.'^ 

''How do we compare with other countries in the 
number of patents T' asked a Story-teller, with a taste 
for figures. 

''It's just a case,'' answered the inventor, "of 
America first and the rest scarcely in sight. Let us 
take the figures for 1910, when 35,807 patents were 
issued in this country. Germany came second, with 
1,083, and England third, with 894. It is interesting to 
go through the list, till we reach two apiece for Tur- 
key and Costa Eica, and one each for Portugal, China, 
and Chile. Of all the many things in which the United 
States leads the world, this matter of inventions is 
the most glaringjy conspicuous. We breathe in the 
very air, as it were, originality and inventiveness, and 
every day we are giving some new idea, great or small, 
to the world." 



118 




HURLING THE HUMAN VOICE ACROSS THE CONTINENT 

Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, sending- the first direct 
message from New York to Chicago. This magical little instru- 
ment has revolutionized the whole world. — See page 129. 



THE STORY OF THE GREAT SEAPORTS 
AND THE WORLD'S COMMERCE 



THE heavens had opened and poured their tor- 
rents upon the earth. Sudden gusts of wind 
smote the library windows, and drove the fall- 
ing rain in blinding sheets across the housetops. A 
terrific gale whipped around the corners of the build- 
ing. Lurid flashes of lightning rent the curtain of 
night. Terrifying crashes of thunder voiced the anger 
of the storm king. 

^^It is a bad night for our sailors/^ remarked a 
Story-teller. 

*'Not if their ships are resting in any of our mod- 
ern harbors, '^ said a keen-eyed man. ^^We have spent 
millions of dollars to prepare them against just such 
storms as this.'' 

**What is your profession?'' inquired one of the 
gathering. 

^^I am a hydraulic engineer," replied the speaker. 
**A builder of seaports and their modern accessories — 
a soldier in the battle against the destructive ele- 
ments. I, and many other Americans, erect bulwarks 
for those cities which are threatened by tidal waves 
and the like; and carve a way to the sea for those 
which are barricaded by Nature." 

The building shivered beneath a terrific blast of 
wind. 

**It was just such a night as this," he continued, 
^Svhen Galveston was wiped out in 1900, and at least 
6,000 people were killed. That was a terrible cata- 
9 119 



WONDER STORIES 



clysm. But it can't happen again — that is the ro- 
mance of hydraulic engineering. The elements tried 
again to destroy the rebuilt city, in 1909, but in vain. 
We had mastered them.'' 

*^How?" ejaculated a voice. 

^^ Simply by walling in the city from the Gulf with 
a four-mile concrete and granite sea-wall resting upon 
subterranean piles and planks to prevent the sea from 
undermining the wall. Then we lifted the city up out 
of the path of danger, in some places elevating it as 
much as 17 feet. It required a little more than a year 
to build the wall, but, when it was finished, we had a 
barrier as solid as a mountain, and it stood 16 feet 
high and 16 feet wide at the base, while a boulevard 5 
feet wide ran the whole length of the wall. We used 
13,110 carloads of sand, crushed granite, cement, and 
timber, and 100,000 tons of granite blocks, some of 
which weigh a ton each, for the riprap before the wall. 
The- cost was about $2,000,000. But it was money well 
spent, for in 1909 it gallantly beat back the Gulf in an- 
other Hurricane and saved Galveston from suffering 
another $18,000,000 property loss. 

*'To raise the city was a simple matter, in prin- 
ciple. All buildings were raised on foundations to the 
height required. Four monster steam-dredges went 
out to sea and with powerful suction pumps drew up 
sand from the bottom. Returning to the city's shore, 
great flexible pipes were carried into the city, and the 
dredges discharged their cargoes of sand and water 
into the streets. When the water ran off, the sand 
remained. Thus 17,000,000 tons of sand were poured 
into Galveston. That is enough to make five pyra- 
mids as big as the Egj^tian Cheops. You would have 
to load every individual living in Europe with 100 
pounds of sand each to carry this away in one trip. 

**That is the way we rescued Galveston," said the 

120 



STORY OF GREAT SEAPORTS 



Story-teller. ''In addition we completed, in 1912, a 
giant causeway connecting the city with the main- 
land at a cost of $2,000,000. It is a beantifnl struc- 
ture of concrete and steel, and its low arched bridges 
resemble those 'moles' which the Eomans built to en- 
close their harbors. It is nearly a half mile long, 
and has a 100-foot lift bridge to permit vessels to 
enter Galveston Bay. It combines a railroad system, 
a roadway, and a promenade, and leads to beautiful 
plazas at either end. Thus we rescued Galveston from 
a debris-strewn sand pit and made it over into the 
third greatest seaport in the United States. 

^'Did you ever hear,'' asked the speaker, **of the 
American who drew the fangs from the mouth of the 
Mississippi, and consequently made of New Orleans 
the second greatest seaport in our nation? Few peo- 
ple have heard of this magician. He is very modest, 
even though he is one of the world's greatest hy- 
draulic engineers and has constructed $100,000,000 
worth of seaports and has added a billion dollars to 
the commerce of the world. 

^'This man is Elmer Lawrence Corthell, a native 
of New England and a grandson of the historic Com- 
modore Lawrence who ^ would not give up the ship.' 
Like his grandsire, young Corthell would not give up, 
even though he labored for five years, and flood after 
flood wiped away those jetties which he built. Per- 
haps he was buoyed up by the words of James B. 
Eads, his employer, who said: 'Congress gives me no 
money till I get twenty feet of water. My reputation 
as an engineer, my honor as a man, and the money of 
my friends are all in your hands.' 

"His plan was simple. He believed that, if he 
could confine the waters of the river through one of the 
three mouths between narrow dikes, the river would 
carry away the alluvial soil that had choked up the 

121 



WONDER STORIES 



pass. He was right, as was proven when the steam- 
ship Vulcan proudly steamed up Little Southwest 
Pass on May 12, 1877, and thence into deep water with- 
out having touched bottom. Eads' reputation and 
money were saved, and Corthell became famous. 

*'The world's greatest seaport, in point of value 
of commerce, is the natural land-locked harbor of New 
York. Its water-front is estimated at 748 miles, or a 
distance equal to that between New York and Cincin- 
nati. It had, in 1912, more than 350 miles of wharves 
for the world's commerce to unload cargoes. 

** Nature provided abundantly for this vast fleet 
of merchant-marine, but there was some room for im- 
provement. One of the most remarkable engineering 
feats was the making of the Ambrose Channel, which 
lessens the journey to Europe by six miles. This is 
cut through a bar in the Lower Bay and is 1,000 feet 
wide, forty feet deep, and nearly eight miles long. 
More than 100,000,000 tons of earth, mud, and sand, 
an amount equal to a third of that dug from the Pan- 
ama Canal, was taken out by dredges during the ten 
years of operations, which cost about $4,000,000. If 
that amount of material were dug out for an inland 
canal fifty feet wide, fifteen feet deep, it would result 
in a waterway nearly 500 miles long — a distance equal 
to that between New York and Columbus, Ohio. 

^^ Millions of dollars have been poured into New 
York Harbor for improvements to accommodate its 
fleet of commerce carriers. In 1912, plans were laid to 
spend $34,000,000 to subdue the treacherous rocks of 
Hell Gate, so that ocean liners can come into port 
through Long Island Sound, and to dredge the Hud- 
son River so that 1,000-foot steamships can safely 
navigate to their piers. 

*^Our American engineers are wizards. They often 
make islands where Nature forgot to put one, and they 

122 



STORY OF GREAT SEAPORTS 



make tliem more stable than some of her handiwork. 
The government troops located on Governor's Island 
in New York Harbor found their island too small; so 
the engineers came along and bnilt on an addition of 
stone and earth. It is not beyond a possibility that 
New York will soon tire of having East River separ- 
ating it from Brooklyn, and will then call in our Amer- 
ican engineers to fill in this river, and thus join the 
two cities, making Long Island an island in name only. 

^^The world has never witnessed such activity as 
is now going on among our American seaports. Bos- 
ton is spending $12,000,000 to improve her harbor; 
Baltimore has spent $6,500„000 since her disastrous 
fire on docks and piers ; the Southern states and cities 
are also spending fortunes. Out along the Pacific 
Coast our engineers are creating wonderful harbors. 
Los Angeles will have spent before the year 1922 
more than $13,000,000 to build up a 23-mile water- 
front; at San Francisco, the state-owned docks are 
being extended at a cost of $1,000,000 ; Oakland is put- 
ting $3,000,000 into the municipal docks, while San 
Diego is having her state docks improved at a cost of 
$1,500,000. To the northward, Seattle and Portland 
are putting touches to Nature's handiwork, so that 
they can accommodate the flood of Oriental commerce. 

**The hydraulic engineer is the magician of the 
age," said the Story-teller in conclusion. *^With his 
steam dredges and cranes, with his concrete, blocks of 
granite, and steel beams, and with his great ingenuity, 
he is changing the face of the ocean shores. Face to 
face he engages in mortal combat with the raging ele- 
ments, and subdues them so that our mariners, after 
navigating the stormy seas, may find safe anchorage at 
the end of the voyage." 



123 



THE STORY OF THE TELEGRAPHER 

AND HIS MESSAGES THROUGH 

THE AIR 



*' T T OW would you like to talk with the man in the 

X X moonf inquired the next Story-teller, in pre- 
amble to his story of the wonders of the tele- 
graph. 

His question was greeted with smiles. 

^*I admit,'* he continued ^Hhat modern civilization 
has not yet achieved this miracle. But, if some of 
the scientists here can only devise the method, I would 
tell them where they can find sufficient material and 
even more than sufficient. A single American telegraph 
company had, in 1910, a sufficient length of wires 
woven all over the United States to form three tele- 
graph systems, allowing two wires to each, to reach to 
the moon. Even then, there would be enough left to 
wrap eight times around the earth at the equator. 
Even this would not use it all, and the balance would 
form a line from New York across Europe and Asia 
and beyond to San Francisco. *' 

^^That would make a pretty long clothes-line, ' ' 
spoke one of the feminine members of the gathering. 

*^Yes, it would,*' replied the telegrapher. *'We 
all know that there are about 100,000,000 people in our 
nation ; but I do not believe you all know that, if these 
telegraph wires were divided equally among the Amer- 
icans, each one, irrespective of age or sex, would have 
a clothes-line 837 feet long; or that this one company 
had more telegraph offices in this country than there 
were dwellings in the state of Nevada, in 1910; or 

124 



STORY OF THE TELEGRAPH 



that these telegraph offices receive and dispatch about 
90,000,000 messages every year. 

^^That the telegraph is a modern miracle no one 
will deny. Not the least miraculous feature about it 
is its wonderful development. Born about seventy years 
ago, it to-day stands as a mighty memorial to Amer- 
ican genius, virtually holding together with its web of 
copper wire the whole structure of modern civiliza- 
tion. Its sensitive nerves stretch from city to city, 
from hamlet to hamlet, wherever there is a pretense 
of civilization and in many places where there is none, 
welding the w^hole world into a common brotherhood 
of intelligence. 

'^You will recall that Great Britain's ruler, King 
Edward, died at midnight of May 6, 1910. Did you 
know that in New York the people on the streets read 
of his death four hours before that time? Of course, 
this is accounted for by the difference in time between 
London and New York. Compare this with the ex- 
perience of our grandfathers, and you have the story 
of what the electric telegraph means to modern civiliza- 
tion. In their generation. King William IV, great- 
uncle of Edward, died coincident ally with the birth of 
the electro-magnetic telegraph. The news did not 
reach this country until about three weeks had passed, 
though swift messengers carried the news to the sea- 
side, from whence steamships raced across the Atlan- 
tic as fast as they could. 

**It is not necessary to say that Samuel F. B. 
Morse was the inventor of the telegraph. His name 
is a household word, and his achievement is related 
in our schoolbooks. To tell the development of the 
idea of the telegraph is to relate the history of civiliza- 
tion. 

**Has there been any change in the telegraph since 
Morse invented it?" a voice asked. 

125 



WONDER STORIES 



^^Not in basic principles," was the answer. "One 
authority has said that ^the telegraph has probably 
undergone less change in the course of its extension 
and practical development than any other invention of 
equal importance. ' When Morse began to lay his first 
line between Baltimore and Washington by the aid of 
the money which Congress appropriated, a shallow 
ditch was plowed and leaden pipes, with the wires 
laid within, were used for a mile or more; but there 
were 4eaks,' and the plan was abandoned. To-day 
this same plan is used in all large cities, but we call 
them conduits. Where Morse planted his pipes, al- 
most on the identical spot, are conduits containing 
cables whose total capacity is equivalent to eight 
hundred telegraph circuits in and out of the city. 

"While Morse gave to the world the electric tele- 
graph as a completed invention, other succeeding 
geniuses, many of them Americans, have added new 
features. One of these was multiplying the number 
of messages sent over a single wire at the same time." 

"Do you mean," inquired one of the gathering, 
"that it is possible to send two messages over a single 
circuit simultaneously?" 

"The last improvement permitted the sending of 
twelve messages over the same wire at the same time, 
six in one direction, and six in the other. At the time 
the survivors of the Titanic disaster disembarked 
from the Carpathia, one telegraph office in New York 
City alone handled in that day more than 715,000 
words over its wires. 

"The laying of the mighty Atlantic cable is a fa- 
miliar story to the average American. It is this great 
telegraphic agent which has literally swept away the 
watery barrier to the conveying of information be- 
tween the New World and the Old. Another of these 
great v/izards is the wireless telegraph, a name syn- 

126 



STORY OF THE TELEGRAPH 



onymous with that of its inventor, Marconi. Seldom 
is it the fortune of inventions to have such dramatic 
baptisms as that which attended the introduction of 
the wireless telegraph to an incredulous world. Every 
one recalls how its mysterious electric spark leaped 
out of the dark night from the deck of the foundering 
Republic, when she was rammed by the Florida, in 
1909, circled in eddying waves from the depths of the 
sea to the Nantucket shore and to those vessels 
equipped with wireless apparatus and within range of 
its appeal, and how help was rushed to the sinking 
ship in time to rescue more than a thousand lives 
from a watery grave. 

^^That was but one of the many services it renders 
to humanity ; as men become more acquainted with its 
mysteries, it proves a greater boon to civilization. It 
was only in the year 1913 that the world was again 
astonished by its powers. Then the mighty govern- 
ment station at Arlington, in the shadow of the na- 
tional Capitol, had succeeded in sending and receiv- 
ing a message from Italy on the Mediterranean. 

*^Did you know that the modern telegrapher can 
paint a portrait with a beam of light and an electric 
spark, though the artist and his canvas are separated 
by hundreds of miles?" was the next startling 
question. 

^^Let us picture the wizard at work. He coats a 
portrait with gelatin and etches it to show the outline 
and features of the face, and then mounts it on a cop- 
per backing. It then looks like the printer's half-tone 
plate. This he fits to a cylinder of his phototelegraph 
and turns on the electric current. A little needle 
passes gently over the portrait, feeling out the fea- 
tures much as the blind son traces the features of his 
mother, and intermittently touching the copper back- 
ing through the etched holes in the gelatin coating, 

127 



WONDER STORIES 



thus forming the electric circuit. At the other end 
of the wire, say 100 miles away, the receiving instru- 
ment is simultaneously painting an exact reproduc- 
tion. Here in a darkened box is another cylinder, 
wrapped around with a photographer's camera film. 
Intermittently, the shutter of the camera-like instru- 
ment opens and closes, in unison with the sending 
needle as it completes the circuit, flashing a minute 
beam of light upon the film to be photographed. As 
the painting progresses, the dots form lines until 
finally the features of the portrait stand forth in 
faithful likeness to the original.'' 

^^ Wonderful!" exclaimed his listeners. 

'^ There is another wonderful machine," continued 
the telegrapher, *' which an American, Professor 
Henry A. Eowland, demonstrated in 1900 at Johns 
Hopkins University in Baltimore. It was the printer- 
telegraph, a combination of the typewriter and the 
telegraph. Four girls sat operating ordinary looking 
typewriters, while an alternating-current dynamo 
softly purred in a corner of the room. Another ma- 
chine, apparently like a mechanic's lathe, was quietly, 
and unaided by human hands, printing messages. In 
another room in Philadelphia, 150 miles distant, a sim- 
ilar scene was transpiring. These two outfits were 
transmitting and receiving simultaneously over the 
one wire eight telegraph messages, which the printing 
machines were taking down at the rate of thirty-five 
words a minute, printing them on paper, just as the 
typist transcribes letters on a typewriter. This scene 
marked the culmination of a half century's labor and 
research on the part of inventors scattered all over 
the civilized world." 



128 



THE STORY OF THE TELEPHONE THAT 
SPEAKS ACROSS THE CONTINENTS 



THE telephone bell sounded its call. The eyes of 
the Story-tellers turned to the little nickeled in- 
strument standing on the library table. The 
owner lifted the receiver. • 

*^ Hello!'' he said quietly, and then listened. *^A11 
right. We will wait. Good-bye.'' 

**The telephone man," he explained to the Story- 
tellers, **just 'phoned and said that he would be with 
us within a few minutes." 

*^That is a remarkable instrument," ejaculated one 
of the gathering. ^^Its name, literally meaning 'a 
voice from afar,' and taken from the Greek, I believe, 
certainly applies to it." 

**Yes, it certainly is wonderful. I read to-day that 
it came from one of those accidental discoveries ; that 
Alexander Graham Bell and his assistant, Thomas 
Watson, were experimenting with a multiple telegraph 
in 1875 in Boston, when the latter, standing before one 
of the telegraph instruments, suddenly heard Bell's 
voice as though the speaker were at his elbow, though 
actually he was in another part of the shop. They 
investigated and were startled to find that they had 
solved the principle of conveying speech by telegraph, 
as they first called it." 

**That is right," declared a voice, the telephone 
man's, who had come into the room unnoticed during 
the discussion. *^It is for that wonderful discovery 

129 



WONDER STORIES 



that Bell's name will ring down tlirough the ages. He 
accomplished what hundreds of other scientists had 
tried to do since Sir Charles Wheatstone, the English 
scientist, began the pioneer experiments in the same 
year that the first steamship, the Savannah, crossed 
the Atlantic, 1819. I believe that all of you are 
familiar with the development of the telephone, and, 
as it is also a long story, I will confine my story to 
the wonders of the telephone as it is to-day. 

*^ First I will reveal the prodigious size of the sys- 
tems, and then relate some of the services that it has 
rendered to Americans. Our earth is not large enough 
to allow adequate comparisons, so I will turn to the 
heavens, where we see Mars' luminous rays of light, 
something like 35,000,000 miles away from the earth 
when it is nearest to us. Did you know that the tele- 
phone wires radiating throughout the world are long 
enough to reach to Mars and back to the earth again, 
and that there would still be 6,000,000 miles left with 
which to drape festoons to the moon? Of this the 
United States has about one-sixth strung throughout 
the nation, from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from 
the Gulf to the Canadian border. 

^'It was estimated, in 1912, that there were 
12,500,000 telephone instruments in the world; the 
United States had 8,400,000 of these, or about one to 
every twelve Americans. Through these we carried 
on about 12,500,000,000 conversations, or more than 
a half of the entire world's telephone conversations. 
It required nearly 150,000 men and women to keep up 
the service and to answer that prodigious number of 
^Helios.' 

* ^ Those of you who live in large cities probably do 
not realize that telephone wires are still strung on 
poles ; your wires are buried in conduits underground. 
Each year a forest of over a million trees is leveled 

130 



STORY OF THE TELEPHONE 



to supply the poles we require for new systems and to 
replace old poles. 

''I do not believe that the average American real- 
izes what a tremendous grip the telephone has upon 
his everyday life, whether social or commercial. It is 
the medium by which contracts are made, evidence is 
given in lawsuits, degrees conferred, and even political 
speeches are delivered to voters. One of the most re- 
markable sermons ever delivered was that by Dr. Rus- 
sell Conwell, who had the Samaritan Hospital in 
Philadelphia connected by telephone with his pulpit. 
The receivers were in the hospital wards, and the 
transmitters, equipped with megaphones, were over his 
pulpit and the choir loft in the Baptist Temple. 

'*The telephone has become almost as necessary to 
the hotel as the beds therein. The one hundred largest 
hotels in New York City have more than 21,000 tele- 
phones, which carry on the average about 6,000,000 
messages a year. Wliat is true of the hotels is also 
true of the large stores. In some of them the Christ- 
mas Eve messages hurtling into the stores have 
amounted to as many as 3,000. 

*' Wherever man goes, the telephone follows; in- 
deed, it often precedes all but the pioneer. The river- 
bank is strung with telephone wires, so that the lum- 
ber-jack can inform his comrades when the floating 
lumber jams. At the Quebec Tercentenary 4,000 
actors moved across a 10-acre stage, following the di- 
rections of a telephone. The movements of the Dragon 
in Wagner's opera * Siegfried,' are directed by a tele- 
phone from back of the stage. The foreman of build- 
ers, working hundreds of feet in the air on the steel 
girders of a rising skyscraper, is in constant telephonic 
communication with them from his position on or near 
the ground. When the Erie Eailroad faced bankruptcy 
recently, E. H. Harriman picked up one of the hun- 

131 



WONDER STORIES 



dred and more telephones in Ms home, loaned the road 
$5,000,000, and saved it at the eleventh hour. 

^'Modern business could not be conducted in its 
modern proportions Tvithout the telephone. There are 
in the New York Stock Exchange nearly 650 private 
telephones, over which each of the brokers sends at 
least 50,000 cryptic messages, involving millions of 
dollars every twelvemonth. Think of what it means 
to the modern ncAvspaper. One metropolitan paper 
has twenty trunk lines and eighty telephones, over 
which are dispatched 200,000 calls, and 300,000 more 
are received, every year. It has revolutionized the 
reportorial end of the industry : one reporter runs for 
the news, and then telephones it in to another who 
writes it ; some runners have even telephoned the story 
direct to the type-setter who clicked it onto his ma- 
chine without ever touching a pencil. 

^'The telephone has become as indispensable in 
modern warfare as the artillery itself. Witness, in the 
Eusso-Japanese War, the battle of Mukden, where 
150 miles of telephone wire stretched across the field 
between the 100-mile crescent of Japanese soldiers 
storming the foe and the Japanese generals standing 
miles in the rear, but directing the assaults as clearly 
and accuratelv as though thev stood at the head of 
their troops. 

*'For every five telephones in the urban districts, 
there are to-day three on American farms and in rural 
districts. It is the farmer's best friend, not only so- 
cially, but in a commercial sense. By it, one North 
Dakota planter was able to plant and harvest 30,000 
acres of wheat, keeping in touch with all operations 
at any time of the day. Can you imagine his state of 
mind, nerves, and body, if he had to carry his own 
messages over this great ranch? That is but one in- 
stance of what the telephone means in modern agri- 

132 



STORY OF THE TELEPHONE 



culture. Did you ever hear of the man who saved his 
flock of sheep from death by telephoning to his herders 
that a blizzard was coming ; of the man who roused his 
neighbors and called them to the rescue of his burning 
barns and house ; of the man who telephoned to deal- 
ers in a neighboring city and was able to sell his stock 
at a price estimated at hundreds of dollars more than 
he could get in the local market? 

*^You all recall the heroic telephone operator, a 
girl, who warned the people near Folsom, New Mexico, 
of the approaching flood and enabled them to escape 
though she herself went down in the angry waters. 

*^The telephone actually saved $3,000,000 to Colo- 
rado fruit growers in 1909. Spring frosts are peren- 
nial events there, as ever^^vhere else, but they prob- 
ably mean more to the Colorado fruit grower, for 
they come along just when his fruit is in blossom. One 
genius conceived the idea of fighting them with 
smudge-pots. The fruit growers bought 300,000 of 
them in 1909 and distributed them where they would 
do the most good, among the trees. A telephone wire 
connected all orchards with the Weather Bureau. On 
a certain day the dreaded message came: 'Get ready 
to light your smudge-pots in half an hour. ' The word 
was relayed to the neighboring towns, and from them 
rushed a cavalcade of willing helpers, so that by the 
time the last warning came from the Weather Bureau 
station, 'Light up, the thermometer registers 29,' 
the smudge-pots were ablaze, and the crops assured of 
salvation." 

''Wireless telephony is to be the next great step!'' 
exclaimed the Story-teller in conclusion. "We shall 
soon hurl our voices on sound waves across the con- 
tinents. It is sure to come!" 



133 



THE STORY OF THE SEWING-MACHINE 
AND WOMAN'S EMANCIPATION 




'HAT American invention has done the most 
for the women of the entire world?" 

The answer seemed to be on the lips of all 
the listeners. 

^'The sewing-machine!'' shonted half a hundred 
voices in nnison. 

'^My problem was too easy,'' replied the speaker, 
a motherly woman of middle age. ^^The sewing-ma- 
chine is indeed the great benefactor of woman. I wish 
that there were some way in which we could perma- 
nently express our appreciation. 

*^The story of the sewing-machine,'' continued the 
speaker, *4s the story of humanity. No invention has 
done so much to deliver woman from drudgery. No 
one piece of machinery has done so much to deliver 
her from her burdens, her seclusion, her serfdom. 
Fifty years ago, more than half the people of Europe 
and America went barefooted half the year. The sew- 
ing-machine has changed all that — and it has pro- 
longed millions of lives. It h^s broken up harems in 
Turkey; it has lifted the veil from many feminine 
faces in the Orient. There was always something in 
a needle and a thimble that made woman cling like 
a vine to a wall — a thimble is the symbol of shyness — 
but the sewing-machine has given her self-reliance 
and freedom. Indeed, without the sewing-machine, 
the civilized world would in six months go naked, as 
it would go hungry without the reaper. 

134 



STORY OF THE SEWING-MACHINE 

^ ' What is this wonderful machine that has changed 
the habits and customs, and even the personal appear- 
ance, of the people of the earth?. It is the product of 
American genius and American skill. It took many 
minds, and more than a hundred years, to invent and 
perfect it. The history of no invention is more re- 
plete with effort and disappointment. It is not known 
how many men tried to construct and improve it, but 
there have been at least 25,000 patents recorded on 
the sewing-machine and its attachments In this re- 
spect only the steam engine surpasses it. It was the 
dream of early England, but it required America to 
bring it into realization. A man called Weisthal con- 
structed an extremely crude chain-stitching machine 
in England in 1755. Another Englishman, Thomas 
Saint, invented a crude machine in 1790. An English- 
man, named Duncan, made a chain-stitch machine that 
employed two hooked needles, in 1804. Then a French- 
man, named Thimmoner, constructed a machine on the 
principle of Saint, in 1830. The first lock-stitch ma- 
chine was made in New York, in 1832, by Walter Hunt, 
but he failed to perfect his idea or to have it patented, 
and thus lost the credit and the fortune. 

**It remained for one American, a farmer's boy, 
to give the sewing-machine to a waiting world. His 
name was Elias Howe, and he was born on a farm in 
Spencer, Massachusetts, in 1819. He lived with his 
father, working upon the land and in the grain mill, 
until he was 17 years of age, and attended the dis- 
trict school during the winters. Then he learned the 
trade of a machinist. It was in 1846, when Elias 
Howe was 27 years old, that he announced that he had 
solved the problem of the sewing-machine. 

* * This was the beginning of a remarkable career, in 
which he fought and overcame many obstacles. He 
constructed four machines and then went to England 
10 135 



WONDER STORIES 



to introduce them into that country. He sold out his 
English rights to a corset manufacturer for a few hun- 
dred dollars and worked in this man's shop with his 
primitive machine. Two years later, he learned that 
his patents were being seriously contested in Boston 
and returned to that city. He was penniless, and for 
months the inventor of the lock-stitch needle fought 
with his back to the wall. He found it necessary to 
resume his trade as a machinist to keep his family 
from starving. Greedy inventors began to infringe 
his patents, and expensive lawsuits kept him in pov- 
erty for several years. It was not until 1854 that his 
claims were firmly established and his patent rights 
acknowledged. Then began the royalties that were to 
be his reward. When the Civil War broke out, his 
heart was stirred with patriotism, and he enlisted as 
a volunteer. Honors began to pour upon him. He 
was the recipient of many medals and the cross of the 
Legion of Honor. Twenty years after his invention, 
he was a millionaire, and his lock-stitch needle, though 
apparently a very simple invention, has given him 
rank as one of the world's greatest mechanical geniuses. 
** There are many interesting anecdotes about the 
sewing-machine," remarked the Story-teller. **For 
some years one of Howe's machines, geared with a 
big wheel and mounted upon a small metal disc or 
table, stood in the window of a shop in Milk Street, 
Boston. It embodied the one principle that makes a 
sewing-machine — the lock-stitch needle, the same 
needle in principle that the best sewing-machines have 
to-day. Every morning and evening there passed this 
window a keen-eyed, middle-aged man, who invariably 
stopped and studied the machine. This was John 
Bachelder, a well-to-do Boston merchant. He was 
quick to perceive what Howe's machine needed to 
make it a wonder-worker. He sold his prosperous 

136 



STORY OF THE SEWING-MACHINE 

business, set up a machine shop, and undertook to 
build a machine that had a horizontal head-piece or 
table, on which the material to be sewn was supported ; 
Howe's bent needle was straightened into a perpen- 
dicular one with an eye point; it was given a needle 
plate, a continuous feed, and a device for pressing 
down the cloth while in the vicinity of the needle — 
five vital points. With these improvements, the great 
American sewing-machine was on its way to perfec- 
tion. 

^*A few more ingenious brains finished the great 
creation. A few years later, an improvement was 
added by Isaac Singer, a New York mechanic. Then 
came A. B. Wilson, who practically completed the 
leading principles of the sewing-machine. What have 
been added since are minor features and improve- 
ments. When Howe's patents ran out, the sellers re- 
duced the machines from $100 to $70 ; when the Bach- 
elder and other patents expired, the machines had 
been reduced to $30 apiece. Both Howe and Bachelder 
came near to starving at different times in their 
careers. 

^^Thus the sewing-machine was evolved by slow 
degrees and at the close of the Civil War its sale had 
grown to a considerable business. It played its part 
in making clothing for soldiers in the Union Army, 
and a number of machines were smuggled across into 
the Confederate lines. There were 86 establishments 
in thirteen states, manufacturing sewing-machines in 
1860, and the output was valued at $4,000,000. The 
output had increased to $15,000,000 ten years later. 
To-day there are 47 factories in the United States, 
employing 20,000 workers, with an output of 
$28,000,000. 

^^The sewing-machine has now encircled the globe. 
Over ten million dollars' worth of machines are now 

137 



WONDER STORIES 



exported in a single year, nearly a fourth of these 
machines going to Scotland alone. Of all the foreign 
nations, only the Germans have succeeded in making 
a machine that can compete with the American ma- 
chine. One may now find an American sewing-ma- 
chine in almost every civilized community on the 
globe. The peasant in Eussia, the black mother in 
Africa, the coolie in India, the almond-eyed ladies in 
China — all have American sewing-machines to-day. 

**But there is one thing that the sewing-machine 
has failed to do," said the mother, sadly. ^*It has not 
banished the 'sweat shop.' Hood's 'Song of the 
Shirt' lives to-day in ten thousand city lofts. The 
sewing-machine has given it a click, a groan, a roar, 
and a rumble — but it has not driven the tragic spec- 
tacle from our land. It remains for the American 
woman to come to the rescue of her unfortunate sis- 
ters and turn light and air, health and happiness, into 
the workroom, so that the song of the sewing-machine 
may be a song of joy!" 

''How can we accomplish this?" asked a woman, 
who was listening intently. 

The mother looked at her sympathetically. 

"My dear," she said, gently, "by constantly appeal- 
ing to the best that is in human nature to protect the 
daughters who are to become the mothers of the new 
generation; by warning this industrial world not to 
forget its humanity ; and by demanding justice ! ' ' 

The Story-tellers broke into applause as the 
motherly woman sat down. 



138 



THE STORY OF THE TYPEWRITER 
THAT REVOLUTIONIZED A WORLD 



A NEATLY dressed young woman, whose active 
eyes swept her audience, told the next story. 
''What would you think,'' she asked, ''if 
while walking through our streets, you were con- 
fronted by a feminine army, an Amazonian army, 
larger than that with which Wellington crushed Na- 
poleon at Waterloo; or a host more numerous than 
that which was mustered under the standards of the 
French and Allies at Leipsic — said to have been the 
largest gathering of armed troops on a modern Eu- 
ropean battlefield f 

"Do you mean to say that there are so many suf- 
fragettes in our landT' inquired a listener in pre- 
tended alarm. 

The young lady smiled at the sally, and then con- 
tinued : 

"I presume there are; but I was not referring to 
them. I was speaking of my fellow-women engaged 
in the profession I represent, the operators of another 
of modern civilization's great wonders — the type- 
writer. 

"A modern Jeanne d'Arc could recruit an army 
the size of Wellington's from the ranks of the femi- 
nine typists in New York City alone, at the beginning 
of the twentieth century. Or she could have called 
upon all the women operating typewriters in our na- 
tion in the same year and have gathered an army 
larger than both of those which fought at Leipsic. 

139 



WONDER STORIES 



Mark that I say feminine operators — there are legions 
of men and boys who are not included in this esti- 
mate. And also mark that this was in the year 1900 ; 
there are many more of both sexes to-day. 

* ^ Fortunately for the men we have no militant ten- 
dencies,'^ she resumed. ^'We represent an army of 
peace, and we literally support the whole business 
structure upon our shoulders. That we have the 
strength for our task I will show by the figures of a 
statistician. This person has estimated that the aver- 
age coal-heaver, during a full day's labor, lifts about 
18,000 pounds. He also states that the average, and 
apparently weak girl typist, when working constantly 
through the day, exerts an energy, while pounding the 
typewriter keys, which nearly equals that of the coal- 
heaver, or an energy equal to nearly 16,000 pounds! 
In that light, the feminine army I mentioned assumes 
pretty formidable proportions. 

^ ' I do not believe the typewriting machine receives 
the tribute that is its due. It has become such a fa- 
miliar sight in American homes and business houses 
that its wonders are frequently overlooked. The aver- 
age American does not know, or at least has forgot- 
ten, that it received its first public recognition at the 
time we were celebrating our first hundredth national 
birthday, in 1876. Practically, it is even younger than 
that, for it is only during the past few decades that it 
has been in general use. And still I claim that it cre- 
ated as great a miracle, in its own field of human en- 
deavor, as did the birth of the nation itself!" ex- 
claimed the Story-teller. 

The auditors smiled at what they considered exag- 
gerated enthusiasm. 

*^I will ask you one question," continued the young 
lady, ^^and probably in your answer you will find the 
reason for my claim. What do you imagine would 

140 



STORY OF THE TYPEWRITER 



happen to our business fabric, not to mention our 
other phases of modern civilization which are depen- 
dent upon the typewriter, if we were compelled to go 
back to using pens and pencils to write out our cor- 
respondence by hand? I, for one, believe that the 
Postoffice Department at Washington would soon re- 
duce its working force, and its receipts would dwindle 
significantly; this is but one obvious effect. 

** Before you answer my question, if you can,'' 
continued the Story-teller, *^let me tell you of an ex- 
periment which our own Government conducted some 
years ago, about the time our federal officers were 
considering the use of the typewriter in their depart- 
ments. The most expert wielders of the pen in the 
Government employ were given 100 statute words to 
copy in their most rapid time, and the same words 
were given to an operator of the typewriter. The hand- 
writers completed their task in about eight minutes — 
needless to say that they worked their fastest — the 
typist in less than two minutes. Of course," ex- 
plained the young lady in apology, **that was several 
years ago. To-day we have typists who have written 
steadily for hours at a stretch at the rate of 115 words 
in a minute. It is not necessary to point out, I be- 
lieve, that the typewriter has miraculously speeded up 
correspondence and a multitude of other business de- 
partments, so that they now can perform eight times 
the business that was possible during the reign of the 
pen and pencil. That is one reason why I claim the 
typewriter as a miracle. ' ' 

**Then Bulwer-Lytton's old proverb that *The pen 
is mightier than the sword' has been revised," inter- 
jected a listener. 

**Yes, that is true," replied the young lady. *^We 
have substituted the word * typewriter' for the *pen,' 
just as we have substituted the machine for the old 

141 



WONDER STORIES 



steel point. To illustrate just how far we have done 
this, let me point out that, according to the Govern- 
ment census of industries in 1909, for every establish- 
ment producing steel pens there were fourteen manu- 
facturing typewriters and their appurtenances; and 
that, for every dollar represented by the steel pen pro- 
duct annually, there were thirty-four in the typewriter 
product. 

^' These estimates represent all kinds of typewrit- 
ing machines, some of which border on wizardry. 
There is the machine which writes in a bound book, 
the typewriter traveling over the face of the pages 
much in the manner of the pen; there is the kind 
which, attached to a piano, automatically writes the 
tune played, marking the notes, the rests, the bars, 
and draws the lines of the scales just as the old-time 
composer laboriously did with the pen or pencil ; there 
is the machine so compact and adjustable that it can 
be folded and carried in a man's pocket; there is the 
machine which will write long columns of figures, an 
invoice for instance, and will add or subtract the 
items, printing the total instantly at the foot of the col- 
umn when the operator presses a certain lever; a ma- 
chine which writes in a cipher code a message that 
only a twin machine, tuned to the code, as it were, can 
translate; a machine, an ordinary typewriter, which 
literally eats a perforated roll of paper, similar to 
that used in player pianos, and automatically writes 
form letters at a rate of about sixty words a minute ; 
a machine which spurns to write letters but presents 
its messages in syllables to save time. But of all these 
marvelous machines, probably the most uncanny is 
the telegraph typewriter, either wireless or land. 

^^The story of the wireless telegraph typewriter 
sounds like the phantasy of a fevered brain,'' she 
said. *^When this bit of magic was first given to the 

142 



STORY OF THE TYPEWRITER 



world, a visitor called at the offices of the inventor, 
Hans Knudson, a Dutch scientist. The office was va- 
cant ; on a desk stood a typewriter whose name is fa- 
miliar throughout the commercial world; its only pe- 
culiarity was that the keyboard was hidden beneath a 
box, which was connected by wires with a case con- 
taining a bewilderment of mechanism. Over this hung 
what appeared to be an ancient umbrella, opened and 
divested of its usual covering, the handle pointing 
downward toward the machine. The visitor's puzzled 
glances returned to the typewriter just as that ma- 
chine began to operate and spell out before his widen- 
ing eyes this message: *Be with you in a minute.' For 
a moment he watched the paper on which the message 
was written in ink, as though he expected it to return 
to the spirit world from whence he thought it came; 
but it still remained and, on examination, proved as 
earthly as though the familiar typist had been present 
and written it. ' ' 

^ ^ That machine surely is a marvel, ' ' exclaimed one 
of the gathering, **but is it practical — can it operate 
over long distances'?" 

^^It is just as practical as any great invention is in 
its primary stage," was the rejoinder. ^^I believe you 
will agree that when a machine, or any other kind of 
invention, performs its allotted work and meets the 
expectations of the inventor, then it can be called 
practical. The range of this machine is only limited 
by the range of telegraphy. Let us suppose a modern 
telegrapher, sitting in New York, desires to send a 
message to Chicago. He strikes, say, the letter A on 
his typewriter. An electric impulse is generated, leaps 
from the machine up through the office roof, and darts 
to the mid-Western metropolis, where it locates the 
office to which it is destined, enters, and then selects 
the letter A on the proper typewriter, causing the 

143 



WONDER STORIES 



letter to print its outlines npon a waiting sheet of 
paper without the aid of hnman agency excepting for 
that operator seated in New York. And all this is 
done in the time that it requires an electric spark to 
leap between the cities. The message begun, it will 
continue to the end, automatically turning the type- 
writer cylinder as each line of words is completed, 
just as though it were operated by a typist and with 
about the same speed possible by the ordinary oper- 
ator. The principle by which this wizardry is per- 
formed is known as synchronism, that used in regulat- 
ing the electric clocks of the nation." 

^^I presume," said one of the listeners, ^^that it 
was a business man who first thought of writing by 
machinery. * ' 

^^No," replied the young lady, ^^ literally speaking, 
the business man stole the typewriter from the blind !" 

An expression of incredulity passed over the face 
of her inquisitor. 

*^I do not mean to be harsh with the business man; 
in fact, I admire him for taking the machine in its 
crude state and later returning it to the blind in its 
present perfected condition. The first writing ma- 
chines were designed for those who were sightless. 

^^The American, W. A. Burt, made the first ma- 
chine in our country about the time w^e were laying 
our first railroads, but his machine proved imprac- 
ticable, as did those of many of his followers. It was 
the American, Charles Latham Sholes, who has the 
honor of inventing the first practical machine, begin- 
ning his work in 1868, and spending the following 
eight years, before he was successful, in destroying 
machines as fast as he found defects, until finally his 
machine was introduced to the world in 1876." 



144 



THE STORY OF THE INVENTOR WHO 
IMMORTALIZED THE HUMAN VOICE 



A WONDERFUL melody floated into tlie room 
through the open window. The hearts of the 
Story-tellers were thrilled ; tremulous sighs paid 
homage to the unseen singer as the melody ceased. 

''Magnificent! Glorious! Wonderful!'* sounded 
through the library in hushed tones. 

"Who was thatf inquired an awed voice. 

'^Caruso, the grand-opera singer/' announced the 
man standing before the assemblage. 

"Caruso," ejaculated the inquisitor, "why, I read 
to-day that he was in Europe !" 

"That is the wonder story which I am about to 
relate," replied the Story-teller. "Mine is the story 
of the miracle which has raised man to the planes of 
immortality occupied by the Grecian gods. It is the 
story of the wonderful talking machine. Though mor- 
tal man may die, his voice lives forever through the 
agency of this modern miracle. 

"Did you ever hear of the man whose voice sang 
his favorite song over his own body as it was laid in 
the grave ; of the wife who touches a lever of this ma- 
chine and again hears her husband's voice, though he 
has been buried beneath the earth for years ; or of the 
politician who swayed his audiences at a political 
rally, though he himself was not present — to mention 
a few instances of the marvels of the talking ma- 
chine?" inquired the speaker. 

"The inspiring notes of the world's greatest hu- 

145 



WONDER STORIES 



man song-birds and instrumentalists have been cap- 
tured and locked within this miraculous machine — 
Caruso, Patti, Calve, Tetrazzini, Sembrich, Paderew- 
ski, Kubelik, and scores of others have given their 
greatest masterpieces to the machine which will be pre- 
served for future generations. Just to mention one 
instance alone, a Parisian society gathers annually the 
voice-records of the contemporary singers and musi- 
cians upon imperishable records, and stores these in 
air-tight metallic cases, within hermetically sealed 
vaults which are not to be opened for at least one 
hundred years. Americans are doing the same, and 
also are gathering the folk songs and lore of the 
Indians and negroes, as well as the epic legendary his- 
tories of the Hawaiian mele chanters. Even the old 
Norman language, as Tellefer spoke it while singing 
his ^Chanson de Eoland^ at the battle of Hastings 
in the eleventh century, has been preserved from the 
pure dialect of an old patriarch, the last human being 
able to speak it so purely, found in the British Isles. 

**The talking machine is the messenger of inspira- 
tion. Think what it would mean to the American to 
hear the inspiring voice of Washington, as he bade 
farewell to his officers of the American Eevolution ; or 
the thrilling voice of Lincoln, as it swept out over the 
battlefield of Gettysburg; or the patriotic voices of 
Patrick Henry, or Henry Clay, or Webster, or Cal- 
houn, as they swayed the destiny of the nation with 
their magical utterances. Think what it would mean 
to the modern student of opera-singing to hear the 
liquid melody of Maliban, the world's greatest soprano 
during her generation, or Mario, or of Eachel, the 
French diva.'' 

The imaginations of the gathering were stirred by 
the suggestion. 

**How old is the talking machine f" asked one of 
the listeners. 146 



STORY OF THE TALKING MACHINE 



^'Less than three decades intervene between its 
appearance in its practical form and to-day. Legend, 
that untrustworthy historian, however, relates that 
the ancient Chinese civilization, three thousand years 
ago, used what they called 'talking boxes.' Pih Kwei, 
the Chinese governor of Khang-tung, in 1858, told a 
visitor this, saying that an old book related how one 
prince of one of the Chinese states spoke into a ' curious 
shaped box made of special wood, closed and sealed it, 
and sent it by a trusty messenger, and how the recip- 
ient, on opening, heard with his own ears the actual 
w^ords and voice of the sender.' " 

''The Chinese seem to have been a wonderful race 
centuries ago!" exclaimed one listener. 

The speaker continued: "Even if this legend is 
true, modern genius has vastly improved upon the 
Chinese talking box, for with the twentieth century 
talking machine it is only necessary to make the record 
of the message and send it through the mails to its 
destination, keeping the talking box at home ready 
for more messages. 

''This modern miracle seems to have begun in 
Eussia about the time Paul Jones was sailing in the 
Bon Homme Richard during the American Eevolution. 
It was at that time that the Imperial Academy of St. 
Petersburg offered a prize to the genius who could 
construct a machine that would record and reproduce 
the vowel sounds of the human voice. The Eussian 
Professor Kratzenstein won the prize with a very crude 
instrument; probably the prize was given him more 
in reward for his elaborate researches than for the 
machine itself." 

"I thought it was our American inventor, Thomas 
A. Edison, who invented the phonograph," said one 
of the Story-tellers. 

"He did. He invented the magic 'box of wood, 

147 



WONDER STORIES 



mechanism, and mica,' as it lias been called, in the 
same year — in 1877 — that Bell completed his tele- 
phone. It was accidental, in a way, for he was work- 
ing to perfect the sending instrument of the telegraph, 
when he suddenly found that he had, almost uncon- 
sciously, unearthed the secret for which scores of 
Europeans had been striving for a century. Alexan- 
der Bell and Sumner Tainter contrived the wax 
record, using it on their machine, which they called 
the graphophone, in the year 1885, eight years after 
Edison's phonograph. Two years after the birth of 
the graphophone, the European, Emile Berliner, pro- 
duced the gramophone. ' ' 

*^It is a wonderful instrument," said one of the 
Story-tellers. ^^I frequently spend the evening in 
listening to operas, orchestras, and military bands." 

*^ There are other sides to the talking machine 
which you probably are not aware of," was the re- 
joinder. ^*It can be found in the business office, in the 
hospital, in the study, or it may be found attached to 
the telephone, or it may be concealed in the conspira- 
tors' den. 

*'Our banker friend is probably familiar with the 
office talking machine, better known as the dictagraph. 
It is the miracle of the commercial world, taking 
accurately, beyond peradventure of doubt, the spoken 
word and whispering it, slow or fast, into the ear of 
the typist — and it will repeat exactly if the typist 
misses a word. 

^^Even the occupation of the typist is threatened, 
for another inventor has proposed to record the spoken 
letter direct upon a piece of sensitized material, say 
cloth, which can be folded and mailed, in place of the 
written letter, and as cheaply, to be reproduced by a 
corresponding talking machine. By this magical in- 
vention the words of the sender are thus sent thou- 

148 



STORY OF THE TALKING MACHINE 

sands of miles, if necessary, and, when the message 
arrives, the sender ^s voice will speak the message as 
though he were there himself/' 

*^ What is its use in the hospital?'' asked one of the 
gathering. 

**One of its uses is to record the breathing of the 
patient at different stages of the disease, which the 
physician can analyze in his laboratory. Or duplicate 
records can be made and these sent to the medical 
schools, to teach the student of that particular disease. 

**In the study or schoolroom it teaches languages, 
just as they are spoken by the master-linguists, who 
probably made the record in their native lands, thou- 
sands of miles away. 

**You all probably recall how the San Francisco 
dynamiters were trapped by the detectives ' dictagraph, 
a combination of the telephone and the talking machine, 
whose eavesdropping *ear' can be concealed in the 
most unlikely places in a room and still transmit to 
a distant point every sound made within that room. 

**Then there is the telegraphone, the machine with 
human intelligence, invented by the Swedish scientist, 
Poulsen. This machine takes its messages on a sensi- 
tized wire miles in length, and it will repeat them ver- 
batim at command, or the messages can be wiped from 
the wire simply by * shocking' them — that is, sending 
through the wire a strong current of electricity. 

**It was only a few years ago that the talking ma- 
chine could speak only for about two minutes; in re- 
cent years this has been increased to five minutes. A 
Tacoman citizen, F. G. Goodale, has recently announced 
that he has invented a record, similar to the film 
used by moving pictures, which will record any length 
of message." 



149 



THE STORY OF THE MOTION PICTURES 
AXD THEIR XEW REVELATIOXS 



IEEPEESEXT the twentieth century historians 
and the modern educators," said the next Story- 
teller, a young man, as, with energetic steps, 
typical of the American business man, he advanced to 
the library table. 

''Mine is the art of faithfully and accurately re- 
cording for posterity the happenings of our genera- 
tion; not in cold words, which are open to partiality 
and distortion; not in stilted sketches, which are fre- 
quently base caricatures of the scenes they are sup- 
posed to represent ; but in actual, living, throbbing, 
and accurate visualizations of the scenes themselves 
at the time they occur, revealing the movements of 
every character involved, whether human or other- 
wise. I represent the moving picture art and indus- 
try." 

The speaker's words had the undivided attention 
of all his listeners, for each was more or less familiar 
with his art, and many used his methods in their 
lines of achievement. 

*'I say, without fear of successful contradiction," 
the speaker continued, "that we are the modern educa- 
tors of the world. Disciples of our craft are located 
in all parts of the earth, gathering representations of 
the arts and the sciences, the education and the reli- 
gions, the history and the drama, of the different races, 
whether they be in the Orient or in the Occident. This 
universal knowledge is scattered to the four quarters 

150 



STORY OF MOTION PICTURES 

of the globe, virtually bringing the whole world and 
its activities into the home, wherever it may be located, 
without the spectators having lost a minute in travel. 
In short, I believe you will agree that we are the 
wizards of modern civilization. 

** Though, as you know, the birth of moving pic- 
tures is practically coincident with the dawn of the 
twentieth century, its position in the arts is not a mat- 
ter of conjecture. We have only to consider what it 
would mean to our generation to have imperishable 
records of the activities of the ancients to realize what 
it will mean to future generations to take out of their 
archives the imperishable films which we are making 
to-day and storing in indestructible buildings and 
cases. America and Europe both have combined in 
this great boon to posterity. If the ancients had had 
our moving picture machines at their command and 
used them as we are doing to-day, we should be in pos- 
session of some wonderful secrets. We should know 
certainly how the Egyptians erected their mammoth 
Pyramids, how the slaves constructed the Tov/er of 
Babel, and possibly how those wise metallurgists tem- 
pered copper." 

**You say moving pictures began at the dawn of 
the twentieth century," said a listener; **what is its 
status to-day, in 1913 — ^how much money is invested 
in the industry?" 

**More money than Spain, or Japan and Switzer- 
land combined, have in reserves of gold in their banks, 
public treasuries, and in circulation," was the aston- 
ishing reply. 

**As you know," continued the speaker, **the 
amusement side of the industry is in the ascendant 
to-day, as it has been from the beginning. Just how 
large this phase of the industry is can be revealed in 
terms familiar to the banker. There are as many mov- 
11 151 



WONDER STORIES 



ing picture houses in our country to-day, located in 
nearly every community in the land, as there are 
national, state, private, and savings banks. Probably 
our military friend will tell us the largest army ever 
gathered in the world's history, and thus help us to 
more comparisons.'' 

** Xerxes is reputed to have had about a million 
men, in all branches of his army, when he marched 
against the Greeks, about 500 years before the begin- 
ning of the Christian Era," was the reply. 

*^It may interest you to know," resumed the 
speaker, after thanking his informant, **that, if the 
host of Americans who watch the moving pictures 
every day were gathered into one body, they would 
make ^ve armies the size of Xerxes'. And the amount 
of money the American public spends annually is 
sufficient to maintain the United States Army and its 
Navy for a twelvemonth. 

**The amusement furnished by the moving picture, 
including some which have drawn upon the chronicled 
history of the ancients and thus visualized scenes of 
past days, is but one phase of our industry. Its others 
are illimitable. Each day witnesses the entrance of 
a new idea into the field. In the educational field it is 
performing miracles. Moving pictures of the fish in 
their secret haunts at the bottom of the sea have been 
recorded; ferocious beasts and almost equally fero- 
cious natives have been pictured in their habitats in 
the jungles; battles have been faithfully recorded in 
pictures, showing their chivalry and their horrors be- 
yond peradventure of doubt; industrial processes, 
such as the catching and packing of sardines, the manu- 
facture of gigantic and mysterious machinery, the 
preparation of food products, and a thousand other 
modern achievements, have been photographed in 

152 



STORY OF MOTION PICTURES 



actual operation, showing faithfully every movement 
made. 

<<To give you an idea of the range of subjects re- 
corded by the moving pictures, let me read a few titles 
from a leading manufacturer's catalogue. These sub- 
jects are available to the modern classroom educator 
or the lecturer: ^Agriculture, biology, aeronautics, 
animal life, bacteriology, biography, botany, entomol- 
ogy, ethnology, pisciculture, geography, history, sociol- 
ogy, industries, kindergarten studies, engineering, min- 
ing and metallurgy, sanitation, microscopy, military 
and naval maneuvers, natural history, ornithology, 
pathology, medicine, surgery, railroading, religion, 
topography, travel, zoology, civics, disease' — I think 
that is sufficient. 

^^I have here a printed report of what the inven- 
tor of the moving picture, Thomas A. Edison, our 
American ^wizard,' said during the first days of mov- 
ing pictures in reply to a skeptic's questions. He 
said, ^In a few years every grammar and high school, 
(he overlooked the universities), and every church in 
the country, will have a moving picture machine in it. 
I'll illustrate what I mean. You be the class, and I'll 
be the teacher. The lesson to-day will be on Mada- 
gascar. First, I'll throw a picture on the screen show- 
ing the geographical relation of Madagascar to Africa. 
Then we will have moving pictures of the principal 
streets of the big towns. They will show just w^hat is 
going on in those streets, whether there are trolley 
cars and such things or whether it is an uncivilized 
place. Then we might show a motion picture, say, of 
a mountain range, taken probably from a railroad 
train. Few persons remember such dry things as the 
* principal products.' I would show pictures of the 
products, and show how they are raised. In that way, 
you see, I could teach more geography in fifteen 

153 



WONDER STORIES 



minutes than you can teach in fifteen days.' What 
Edison said about geography is true of nearly every 
other educational subject." 

^'I did not know that Edison was the inventor of 
mo\dng pictures," said one listener. 

^'The consensus of opinion grants him that honor, 
or at least, states that he produced the first practical 
machine," replied the speaker. 

^*The whole world seems to have been levied upon 
to bring it to the point where the American inventor 
took it up. Even Lucretius, 65 years before Christ, 
understood the basic principle of the science, tech- 
nically described as the ^persistence of impression 
made by light upon the retina of the eye.' The lay- 
man knows it as the fact that the eye still sees the 
light a fraction of a second after it has passed out of 
the vision. This was the principle known to Sir John 
Herschel when he asked his dinner guest, Charles Bab- 
bage, if he could see both sides of a shilling at once. 
He demonstrated this, to the astonishment of his 
friend, by spinning the coin on the table and directing 
his friend to look at it at a level with the spinning coin. 
Babbage described the experiment to his friend, Doc- 
tor Fitton, who carried it on and soon produced his 
famous thaumotrope. This consisted simply of a card, 
on one side of which the doctor drew the picture of a 
bird, while on the other was that of a bird cage. A 
silk thread was attached to the card, so that the latter 
would spin like Sir John's coin. The result was 
magical — the bird appeared, when the card spun, to 
enter the cage. 

* * To relate all the names of improvers of the mov- 
ing picture machines and their devices would be a 
great task. The professor of sciences in the Sorbonne, 
in France, said: ^ There are scores of them, even hun- 
dreds. To review their devices would be to deliver a 

154 



STORY OF MOTION PICTURES 

lecture on mechanics.' He mentioned a few of the 
names of the devices which had been ^ christened in all 
sorts of ways from the Greek, Latin, and in more 
fanciful fashion still. Here are a few : Anarithmoscope, 
chronophotographoscope, cinographoscope, cinograph, 
cinoscope, hypnoscope, katoscope, ummographe, mut- 
oscope, phantographe, and even mouvementescope.' 

^^Only a generation intervenes between Eadweard 
Muybridge's battery of cameras which photographed 
running horses and the modern ultra-rapid cine- 
matograph, a machine which can accurately record 
every moment of the swiftest bird or insect while in 
flight. This machine is proving a great boon to science, 
while another, the X-ray moving picture machine, will 
even photograph the corpuscles of the blood as they 
flow through the human, living body. Then there is 
another machine which, utilizing the secrets of light 
and color, produces Nature's most gorgeous hues 
with accuracy so marvelous that the spectator almost 
smells the new-mown hay, or the fresh buds of a bril- 
liant plant. And there is still another, which our 
friend the phonograph man will probably describe, 
that combines the weird voice of the * speaking box' 
with motion pictures, giving to the world actual talk- 
ing-living pictures. 

**This, gentlemen, is the story of the moving pic- 
ture, which, from its very first appearance in practical 
form, has had a career of less than two decades, but 
has revolutionized our knowledge of the earth. Through 
this wonderful invention we may sit at home and watch 
the world's great events pass before our eyes. We 
may witness the crowning of a king thousands of miles 
away. We may gaze at the beasts as they roam through 
the jungles. It is no longer necessary for us to go out 
into the world — the world comes to us." 



155 



THE STORY OF THE STREET RAILWAY 
AND HOW IT LINKS OUR CITIES 



ON this eventful night the Story-tellers were late 
in arriving. A severe storm had raged through 
the day, and the street car traffic had been de- 
layed. 

**I wonder," remarked one of the last arrivals, 
**what we would do on a day like this if we did not 
have street cars.'' 

^^Stay at home, as our grandfathers did,'' replied 
one of the gathering. 

**But what a tremendous loss in business!" ejacu- 
lated another. *^What would the people do in our 
large cities, if they could not get to their work?" 

**Stop work entirely," answered the first speaker. 
**Did it ever occur to you that, if we didn't have street 
cars, we probably would not have many large cities? 
The street car is the modern magician. It has threaded 
its way through our thoroughfares ; it has united our 
towns and cities; it has formed a gigantic network 
over our states over which we may travel in nearly 
any direction at any moment of the day to any desired 
destination. It has done more than this — ^it has broken 
down the barriers that so long held our towns and 
villages in seclusion and has transformed them into 
modem, progressive communities. It has linked them 
to the great outside world and has made them an im- 
portant part of it. 

**Some of us can still remember the days when the 
only way to get out of town was to walk or to take 

156 



STORY OF THE STREET RAILWAY 

the old stage coaches. Then came the omnibus to carry 
us from place to place within town limits. 

**The world's first street cars, running on rails, 
appeared in New York, in 1831. Horses were still 
used as motor power, but the omnibus gave way to a 
sort of carriage that ran on rails. These rails con- 
sisted of timbers resting on edge, the upper edge cov- 
ered with a strip of metal. This line ran from Prince 
Street to Harlem and was known as the New York 
and Harlem Railway Company. The horses were dis- 
placed by crude steam-engines, in 1832, but they were 
so unreliable that in 1845 the horses were again em- 
ployed. The horse car developed from this innova- 
tion, till finally our grandfathers came to look at the 
jolting, rattling, bobbing contraption as a great con- 
venience. The idea was thus born in New York and 
taken up by various other American cities, as well as 
the cities of Europe. Philadelphia tried it first in 
1857. The French called it *the American Eailway.' 

*^The old horse bus did not die out, however. Horse- 
drawn omnibuses were employed on Fifth Avenue, 
New York, as late as 1905. In London, the first motor 
bus appeared on the streets in 1907, and only after 
that did the horse-drawn bus cease to be one of the 
chief means of handling intramural passenger traffic. 
In 1912 the last horse-drawn bus was taken off the 
Parisian streets, motors having been substituted. 

*'In some cases. Nature helped along the develop- 
ment of the street railway. Some American cities, 
notably San Francisco and St. Louis, were so hilly as 
to make the ordinary railways almost impossible. 
Other means were sought to propel cars, and, in 1873, 
Andrew S. Hallidie equipped the Clay Street railway 
of San Francisco with a cable-car system. A slot was 
built between the two car rails, and in this a heavy 
cable traveled along. The cars were equipped with 

157 



WONDER STORIES 



* grips' that could catch hold of this traveling cable, 
and the vehicle was carried along with it. When it was 
desired to stop the car, the grip released its hold on 
the cable and the car ran Mead.' 

**With the coming of the cable-car, people first 
raised the now familiar cry, 'The horse must go.' St. 
Louis, Chicago, Kansas City, Philadelphia, and New 
York adopted the cable system. The last named city 
had it installed along Tenth Avenue and other streets 
for a distance of twelve miles. By 1894, there were 
700 miles of cable-car railways throughout the United 
States. But their many disadvantages, arising chiefly 
from want of proper control, led to their abandonment. 

**Now T am coming to a notable invention — the 
elevated railroad. In 1872, what was regarded as a 

* freak ^ railway was erected in New York. Its freak- 
ishness lay in the fact that the rails were not placed 
on the ground, but rested thirty feet or more above it 
on an elongated or continuous bridge. This line ran 
from Thirtieth Street to the Battery, being the first 
of its kind in the world. Soon there were about forty 
miles of elevated railroad on Manhattan Island alone. 
People were slow in taking to this new method of 
transportation, on account of its insecure appearance, 
but gradually New Yorkers came to depend on it. Chi- 
cago and Boston were the other American cities to 
adopt elevated railroads. Paris, Liverpool, and Berlin 
have also adopted the idea." 

'^The first practical trolley car was run in Kansas 
City in 1884. We are coming now to the real era of the 
street railway — the era of the use of electric power. 
Various attempts had been made to apply electricity to 
vehicles for motive power. As early as 1836, a work- 
man named Davenport had tried it in Brandon, Ver- 
mont. His electric motor was crude, and his experi- 
ment bore no fruit. But when the mighty genius of 

158 



STORY OF THE STREET RAILWAY 

Edison was brought to bear, success was assured. He, 
in conjunction with Stephen D. Field, made some 
experiments over a period lasting from 1879 to 1883, 
and, at the Chicago Railway Exhibit held in the latter 
year, they built a 1,500 foot system. To Richmond, 
Virginia, however, belongs the distinction of being the 
first city in the world to have on its streets a really 
practical, as well as extensive, electric system of cars. 
F. J. Prague installed 13 miles of electric railway 
there in 1884. 

'*The principle underlying the trolley-car is quite 
simple. Each car is equipped with an electric motor 
so arranged that it can set the traction wheels of the 
car into motion. Electricity, generated in a central 
power-house, is conducted along the line of the rail- 
way by an overhead copper wire. A pole fitted with a 
trolley keeps in contact with this wire, and so a con- 
stant current of electricity flows to the car's motor and 
continues its circuit back to the power-house through 
the metal rails upon which the car runs. Since the over- 
head wire often broke and in other ways proved in- 
efficient, various methods have been devised to do away 
with it. A * third rail,' i. e., a rail in addition to the 
two traction rails, is now largely used to conduct cur- 
rent to the motor. Sometimes this is placed under- 
ground in a slot, as on the street railways of New 
York. In 1898, the third rail idea was tried on the 
elevated railway of Chicago and proved such a success 
that it has there and on the other elevated railways 
taken the place of the old locomotive. But cars now 
bid fair to be self-propelling. Within the last five 
years, Edison has made the storage battery reliable 
and durable enough to run small cars, thus doing away 
with the older plan of having a centrally generated 
current supplying the whole line, and cars with such 
equipment are now running in many American cities. 

159 



WONDER STORIES 



'^Now/' exclaimed the Story-teller, ''look around 
and observe the magnitude of the operations of the 
street railway. Since 1884, its growth has been as- 
tounding. The larger cities are crossed and recrossed 
by hundreds of lines that bring the two ends of town 
together as if they were separated by blocks instead 
of by miles. The increase in the number of miles of 
track and the number of passengers carried has been 
astounding. In 1890 there were 1,261 miles of track 
in use by street railways using all kinds of power. 
But in 1907 there were 23,059 miles of track being used 
by electrically equipped systems alone, and the num- 
ber of passengers carried by all the street railways 
of the country in that year was 7,441,114,508. They 
are cheap and efficient. In some cities, one can cover 
a distance of twelve miles for fLve cents and without 
changing cars. The aid that the electric car has given 
to business is incalculable. By its means, not only are 
the different parts of the city linked together, but 
whole regions are connected. Where formerly it was 
quite an event to leave town, the traveler being bound 
by a cast-iron time-table, nowadays it very often 
means nothing more than hailing a car, boarding it, 
and being carried through to^^m and over country. 

**The street railway system," exclaimed the 
speaker, in conclusion, ''is America's gift to traveling 
himianity. It has primarily proved of immense ad- 
vantage to ourselves, who live in a country of vast dis- 
tances. But from Petersburg to Capetown, from 
Tokio to Rio de Janeiro, wherever, in fact, civilized 
men foregather in large numbers — the street railway 
is daily ministering to the necessities and the pleas- 
ures of the people. ' ' 



160 



THE STORY OF THE ELEVATOR AND 
THE BUILDING OF GREAT CITIES 



THE steel door closed with a clang. With a 
breath-taking leap the little cage plunged up- 
ward. In an instant the door opened again, and 
a dozen people stepped out into the lobby of the li- 
brary on the tenth floor. 

^^Did it ever occur to you/' exclaimed one of the 
Story-tellers, ^^that if it were not for that wonderful 
contrivance, called the elevator, we could not be sit- 
ting here to-day in this building, that rises above the 
streets like a modern Tower of Babel. It is the eleva- 
tor that has made these great business structures pos- 
sible. Without these steel cages, that plunge up nearly 
a thousand feet and then fall again like meteors from 
the sky, we should still be living on the ground in low, 
sprawling structures that would require a whole state 
to house the people of one of our large cities. It is 
the elevator that has made it possible to erect mil- 
lion dollar buildings on seventy-foot plots of land, and 
has caused our cities to expand vertically instead of 
horizontally. ' ' 

The speaker was a real estate broker who has been 
a prominent figure in the growth of our modern cities. 

**The elevator is an American invention,'' he ex- 
claimed. ^^Of course the germ of the idea existed long 
ago. Elevators have recently been unearthed in the 
palace of the Caesars on the Palatine Hill in Rome, 
and relics of them have been found in the ruins of 
Roman private houses. But it is strange to find that 

161 



WONDER STORIES 



the principle of the elevator has been known among 
savages." 

An expression of incredulity flitted over the faces 
of many of the andience. 

*^You may hardly believe it/' continued the Story- 
teller, ^'but if you visit the Island of Timor, which 
lies to the north of Australia, to-day, you will see 
the natives going after honeycomb by means of a crude 
kind of elevator. The bees build their nests on the 
tops of tall trees, often seventy feet high, which have 
no branches. The ingenious Polynesian cuts a few 
yards from the tough stem of a creeper, and forms a 
rope which he loops around the trunk of the tree and 
his body. Then he jerks the loop a little above his 
head, leans back, and begins walking up the tree. By 
repeating the operation, he gradually gets to the top 
and secures his beloved honeycomb. 

*^The earliest elevator of modern times was that 
constructed under the direction of the Empress Maria 
Theresa in her palace at Schoenbrunn, near Vienna, 
which was used by the great Napoleon wheii residing 
there. In a letter to his wife, the Archduchess Maria 
Louisa, he describes the contrivance as a small square 
room, sumptuously furnished with red silk hangings 
and suspended by strong ropes, with counterweights. 
The Emperor mentions that, when he first entered the 
* flying chair,' as it was called, he was asked how much 
he and his two companions weighed, probably in order 
to employ the proper counterweights, as it was dif- 
ficult for the operator to stop at the right point, un- 
less the weights were fairly equal. 

** Crude hoists have no doubt existed in all civilized 
countries in all ages. But between the hoist and the 
elevator of to-day, as perfected by American in- 
genuity, there is as much difference as between the 
horse-drawn vehicle and the electric train. 

162 



STORY OF THE ELEVATOR 



**The first American elevator was built by George 
H. Fox, in 1850. It was operated by means of a ver- 
tical screw, the butt carrying the cage. But the ^ father 
of the elevator' is Elisha G. Otis, who, three years 
later, exhibited an improved invention at the World's 
Fair in the Crystal Palace in New York. Otis was 
a Vermont farm boy, whose Yankee inventiveness had 
first led him to improve agricultural machinery. He 
became a successful carriage builder. His chief claim 
to fame is the elevator. It was invented by him at the 
age of forty-two. The year 1871 saw the first hydrau- 
lic elevator. It held the field jointly with the steam 
elevator, until the electric elevator came into use about 
1888. 

* * The principle of the elevator is a simple inversion 
of a well-known law. A heavy load traveling through 
a short distance will hoist a light load through a long 
distance." 

**Can you give us any figures as to the number of 
elevators in use?" inquired one of the party. 

'^"Well," replied the broker, ^^I can give you some 
information concerning New York City, which uses 
more elevators than any other place in the world. In 
1909, there were, on Manhattan Island, about 9,000 
passenger elevators and 12,000 freight elevators. At 
the same date, there were, in the lower part of the 
Borough of Manhattan, 26 buildings of 18 floors or 
over, aggregating in total height about one and one- 
third miles. These contained 116 express elevators 
and 115 local elevators, with a total mileage of 4,400 
miles per day and carrying a total of 615,000 pas- 
sengers daily. This means that each elevator averages 
19 miles a day. But some elevators in busy buildings 
do their 10,000 miles a year, or more. In the highest 
skyscrapers, which have a large complement of eleva- 

163 



WONDER STORIES 



tors, it is calculated that they take, between them, the 
equivalent of a trip round the world every week. 

^'As to the number of persons using elevators, 
such figures as are available are astonishing. It was 
calculated that, in 1909, the elevators of New York 
City were carrying six millions and a half persons 
every day. A careful count was made one day in one 
of the big skyscrapers, and it was found that 50,000 
persons rode in the elevators in that building alone. 
This is more than rode in all the street cars of Nash- 
ville, Tennessee, in a single day. 

*^You have all heard of the Woolworth building, 
in New York City, the highest building in the world. 
It has 28 elevators, and their safety was tested in 
a novel manner. Their designer got inside one and 
had it drop the whole distance of 676 feet as fast as 
it could go. It attained a speed of two miles a minute, 
but slowed down toward the end of the journey owing 
to the air pressure, and reached its destination, with 
its occupant in perfect comfort, stopping so slowly 
as not to spill a glass brimful of water placed on the 
floor." 

''Have elevators been materially improved since 
their introduction?" inquired one of the auditors. 

''Evidently, you have never ridden in one of the 
old-fashioned cars," replied the Story-teller. 

"They were heavy, weighing when empty 6,000 
pounds, out of all proportion to their utility, and their 
fastest speed w^as 100 feet a minute. If they were in- 
stalled in our modern skyscrapers, doubtless they 
would serve lunches on the trip up, to tempt the people 
from using the stairs. The present-day elevator is — 
what we all know it to be. 

"The cost of a modern elevator is $12,000 for the 
initial outlay, and $1,200 per annum afterward. On 
the other hand, the enormous quantity of time saved — ■ 

164 



STORY OF THE ELEVATOR 



which, as we all know, is money — I leave the statis- 
ticians among you to figure out for themselves. 

*^As with all great devices, there are varieties of 
the elevator used for special purposes. Buildings in 
course of construction are fitted with an elevating 
apparatus for brick and mortar and other material, 
which is kept busy all day long. The old hodcarrier 
has been mercifully superseded in these days of 20 
and 30-story buildings. Wheelbarrows, filled with 
bricks and other materials, are rolled, two at a time, 
onto these elevators, which shoot up to the highest 
floor reached, where men are stationed to receive and 
replace their load. 

^^But what do you think of an elevator that lifts 
steamships? The first of this kind was put in service 
at Petersborough, in Ontario, Canada. It is an enor- 
mous structure, and well it may be, for it is required 
to do the work of ^ve ordinary locks. It consists of 
two steel basins or chambers, weighing about 400 tons 
each and working up and down between guiding towers 
125 feet high. One chamber, containing one or half 
a dozen boats, may be raised by the weight of the other 
chamber, which is loaded down by eight inches of 
water. This giant elevator takes only twelve minutes 
to do its work, from the time that the gates are lowered 
at the bottom to allow the boat to enter until it leaves 
the chamber above. 

*^ Boston has a group of elevators of a very curious 
kind. They run, not straight up and down, but in a 
curved tube, and yet maintain a level floor all the time. 
These are for the purpose of carrying passengers from 
two platform floors in a railroad tunnel to a single 
station above. You cannot tell that you are traveling 
in anything but a vertical direction, unless you see 
that the lines of the shaft appear all awry. ' ' 

165 



WONDER STORffiS 



*^Can you tell us anything about escalators T^ in- 
quired a voice. 

^'The escalator/' replied the broker, "is coming 
more and more into use. What was once regarded as 
an amusement, or at best, a fad, is now seen to be of 
real service. An escalator, I need hardly say, is a 
moving staircase, which, though it lacks the speed of 
the elevator, is very much less costly. For instance, 
30,000 passengers can be carried up 21 feet for 60 
cents. Escalators are already used on the subways 
and elevated railroads, and wherever they are used 
are undoubtedly popular. One of the largest is that 
at the Pennsylvania Station, in New York City, which 
connects an underground level with that of the street. 
A department store at Philadelphia has one of the 
earliest escalators erected, the one used at the Paris 
Exposition of 1900. Another use is indicated by the 
erection of eight escalators in a worsted mill at 
Lawrence, Massachusetts, for its 6,000 employees.'' 

*^I mentioned at the start," said the Story-teller, 
*^that the elevator is essentially an American inven- 
tion. It is so in its origin, and it remains so largely in 
its manufacture. Wherever, under the influence of 
American example, the elevator has come into use, 
there may be found the American product. Of all 
things, at least to such of us as live in cities, the ele- 
vator has become one of the most commonplace; but 
there is no doubt — and I hope I have indicated as much 
in the course of this story — that it plays no small part 
in the development of our civilization. 

'*It is only a matter of a comparatively short time 
before we shall have moving sidewalks in our great 
cities. Such a project has long been agitated in New 
York City." 



166 



THE STORY OF THE AUTOMOBILIST 
AND THE "HORSELESS AGE" 



THE streets were thronged with people. The honk 
of horns and the shriek of sirens warned the 
pedestrians of danger at every crosswalk. The 
thoroughfare was crowded with carriages, and cabs, 
huge trucks, and delivery wagons — all weaving their 
way along the asphalt pavements in endless procession. 
And yet there was not a horse among them ; each was 
driven by the explosive power of gasoline or the 
wizardry of electricity. 

The Story-tellers were waiting impatiently in the 
library. 

''There will be no story to-night," exclaimed one 
of them. ''A derailed car blocks the whole line, and 
our guest cannot possibly get here.'' 

As he spoke, the door swung open and a genial 
voice cried: 

''Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. You must 
pardon me for this slight delay. I live in the country, 
about ninety miles away, and when I reached the sta- 
tion in my village, I heard of the blockade and had to 
return home." 

The newcomer removed his fur coat, goggles, and 
cap. 

**We had given up the pleasure of seeing you to- 
night," remarked one of the gathering. 

*'I came on my own 'rail-less railroad,' " he 
laughed, "the kind which the owner can take home 
with him and lock up for his private use, or can send 
12 167 



WONDER STORIES 



it darting anywhere at his will, independent of steel 
rails and time schedules. If it were not for my auto- 
mobile, I probably would have had to remain at home. 
When I heard of the blockade, I took out my motor 
car and came here faster than I could by train. At 
one time, when we were speeding over a smooth, 
straight stretch of road, the speedometer registered 
sixty miles an hour.'' 

*^A mile a minute!" exclaimed some one. 

^ ^ That is only lagging along the road in these days 
of frenzied speed," modestly replied the automobilist. 
^^Bob Burman, you know, sent his car for two miles, 
in 1911, at the rate of 145 miles an hour, or a mile 
in a fraction over 25 seconds. How would you like to 
see him race the fastest locomotive on rails! Do you 
know that, if he and an engine started from New York 
City together in a race, the automobile would plunge 
past Independence Hall in Philadelphia, 36 minutes 
after the start — the engine would be 18 miles behind, 
and it would take it 9 minutes longer to reach the same 
spot?" 

^ * That is faster than any human being ever traveled 
before!" exclaimed one of the gathering. 

^^But it isn't safe to predict," continued the auto- 
ist, ^Hhat no human being will ever travel faster. Not 
at the rate the automobile is being improved. And 
you must remember that the American automobile was 
practically only thirteen years old at that time. 

'^The story of the automobile rivals the tales of 
the old sorcerers. For many generations English in- 
ventors strove to create a motor vehicle. I believe that 
Sir Isaac Newton, the discoverer of gravitation, was 
the pioneer, about 1680. All kinds of crude machines 
appeared. They were so dangerous that English au- 
thorities prohibited such vehicles on the highway, un- 
less they were preceded by men carrying red flags, 

168 



STORY OF THE AUTOMOBILE 



and even then they were restricted to four miles an 
hour. 

^^The first steam tricycle, fired by coal, appeared 
in the streets of Paris, in 1892. The inventor was M. 
Leon Serpollet. The first motor vehicle race took 
place between Paris and Bordeaux, in 1899, The win- 
ning car traveled at the rate of 14 miles an hour, to 
the astonishment of an incredulous world. On Thanks- 
giving Day of that year, Chicagoans gathered in the 
slush and snow to witness the first public endurance 
run in America. The winner successfully circled Chi- 
cago, and the feat created great enthusiasm through- 
out the country.'' 

**Was that the beginning of the horseless age in 
America?" asked one of the audience. 

**No," exclaimed the automobilist. **The last vol- 
unteer in the Civil War had scarcely reached his home 
from the battlefield when our inventors began their 
experiments. Their results were often startling. Most 
of them applied their motive power to bicycles or the 
like. One of the most successful was by a man named 
Roper, of Roxbury, Massachusetts. But the real 
American automobile era did not begin much before 
the year in which we went to Cuba to conquer the 
Spaniards — in 1898. 

^^The growth of the automobile industry has been 
one of our twentieth century marvels. Six million dol- 
lars were invested in the business about the beginning 
of the century. Twelve years later it had multiplied 
to $450,000,000. For every dollar invested in Amer- 
ican capital, one cent of it is in the automobile indus- 
try. There were 2,500 persons actually employed in 
about thirty establishments in 1899; there were more 
than 85,000 employed in more than 400 establishments 
in 1912. If you count all persons who are affiliated 
with the industry, in the capacities of salesmen, demon- 

169 



WONDER STORIES 



strators, and the like, then you would have an army 
numbering a quarter of a million. 

* ^ It was said that there were 3,500 cars in our coun- 
try about twelve years ago. So rapidly did they in- 
crease that to-day there are more than 850,000, or 
about eighteen times as many as there are passenger 
coaches on our American railways. These tignires are 
constantly changing, at the rate of about 200,000 new 
cars every year, four-fifths of which it is said are sold 
to Americans, the rest being sold in foreign countries. 

^^If one American owned all the cars in the coun- 
try, or at least the money that was spent for them, he 
would be the world's money king — ^he would have 
about $850,000,000. 

^ ^ What has the automobile actually done for Amer- 
icans? It has worked a new revolution, greater in its 
results than war. It has brought health, wealth, and 
pleasure ; it has made the tourist familiar with the out- 
of-way places of the world, as no railroad could pos- 
sibly do. It has inaugurated a new spirit of travel 
and thereby greatly increased knowledge. It has built 
up the small towns ; it has taken people out to the fresh 
air of the country, instead of crowding them into the 
heart of the congested city. It has greatly increased 
property values. It is a factor in science ; the doctor 
finds it invaluable when hurrying to save a life; the 
hospital sends out its auto-ambulances. The fireman 
uses it to carry himself and his apparatus to the fire. 
The parcels postman uses it to carry his heavy bundles. 
The shopper utilizes it in her trips to the stores. The 
visitor to a city finds taxicabs awaiting him at the 
station to convey him through the crowded streets to 
a hotel. There are auto police wagons and auto com- 
mercial trucks o Auto freighting cars carry the pre- 
cious metals from Costa Eica's mountain-tops to her 
seaports. California auto trucks carry borax out from 

170 



STORY OF THE AUTOMOBILE 



Death Valley. There are auto street-sweepers, auto 
handcars, and even auto chapels, from which mission- 
aries preach the Gospel to those who cannot attend 
church. 

^^The automobile is thirty times more efficient than 
the old mule team. It can haul a load of 100 tons to 
a distance of 100 miles in twenty hours. Furthermore, 
it is much cheaper than horses. One freighting com- 
pany which formerly used horses or mules, saves an- 
nually $100,000 on an initial investment of $30,000. 

^ ' The automobile is doing our farming to-day. Its 
first test was in plowing; it showed that horses cost 
$3.68 an acre, steam power $4.08, and gasoline motor 
power $1.97 each acre. An auto plow can do as much 
work in one day as a two-horse team can in six. The 
marvelous little auto tractors pull the plow, the har- 
row, the planting and the mowing machines. 

'*The automobile has proven the farmer's friend. 
One-fourth of the automobiles sold to-day go to farms 
west of the Mississippi. In Egypt it turns up the 
desert in the very shadow of the Pyramids. 

^^But one of the greatest of boons that the auto- 
mobile has rendered to civilization is the demand for 
good roads. During its comparatively short career, 
it has changed the whole highway systems. Not mil- 
lions but billions of dollars are being expended in 
building great highways that weave their way through 
the continent like a huge spider's web. 

^^The automobile has come to stay," exclaimed the 
Story-teller, placing his goggles over his head. *^It 
will become more and more general in its use until the 
peoples of the earth are darting from place to place 
in these veritable houses on wheels. Even when the 
airship lures us into the clouds, the automobile will 
remain the master of the land." 



171 



THE STORY OF THE FIRE FIGHTERS 
AND THE CONQUEST OF FLAMES 



THE clang of gongs rose from the roar of traffic 
in the streets. The Story-tellers rushed to the 
windows of the library. On the pavement below 
could be seen a huge engine plunging through the 
crowds toward a tall building, shrouded in smoke. 

^'Fire!" shouted the gathering throng. '^Fire! 
Fire!'' 

^^Do you know,'' remarked one of the Story-tellers, 
as he gazed at the scene, ''that the story of fire and fire- 
engines is even more thrilling than the tales of war!" 

"It is war," suggested one of the onlookers, "war 
against man's greatest enemy." 

"Quite true!" exclaimed the Story-teller, "and I 
will tell you how man has fought through the ages 
to conquer it. 

"It is an old story. Fire began the fight and had 
its own way for a very long time. History tells us 
of many disastrous conflagrations in ancient times, 
but says little of any efforts made to combat them. 
People found that throwing a bucketful or two of 
water on a fire had little effect, unless it was a very 
small fire. 

"So things went on, until the idea came to some 
bright mind of some kind of machine for pouring water 
on fires. It was an Alexandrian Greek, most likely 
Ctesibius, who, about 200 B. C, devised a double cylin- 
der machine, which worked by an alternate motion and 
threw jets of water. You know Alexandria was the 

172 



STORY OF THE FIRE ENGINE 



most up-to-date city of that time, and it^s pretty safe 
to look there for anything worth while in the way of 
science and invention. I wish w^e had some account of 
the first fire at which the pump of Ctesibius was used. 
No doubt, it was a proud day for him, supposing that 
it worked well and that it wasn't a very big fire. Any- 
way that machine was, without doubt, the distant and 
humble ancestor of the modern fire-engine." 

^^A far cry!'' laughed one of the audience. 

^'Yes, indeed,'' responded the Story-teller. ^'But 
we mustn't ^despise the day of small things.' The 
* syphon,' as the cylinder machine was called, was a 
great improvement on the mere bucket. Anyway, no 
appreciable improvement was made on it for about 
1,800 years. 

'^In fact, it was not till the beginning of the seven- 
teenth century that we find what we may call a real 
fire-engine. This was at Nuremberg, in Germany. It 
was a large machine, ten feet by four, required 20 
men to work it, and threw water to a height of 80 feet. 
By the end of the century, improvements were made. 
An air chamber was added, designed to cause a con- 
tinual flow of water, and an ingenious Dutchman, Jan 
Van der Heide, introduced leather hose and a contriv- 
ance for lifting the water to the engine. 

^^At last the steam fire-engine was introduced. 
After many earlier attempts, more or less successful, 
the ^steamer' was constructed in a greatly improved 
form by Mr. Hodges in New York, in 1841. It was 
self-propelling, threw to the height of 166 feet, and 
made 120 revolutions a minute. 

'^ Could you believe that this innovation met with 
great opposition? Whenever a ^steamer' made its ap- 
pearance at a fire, there was sure to be a crowd of 
hand-firemen who tried to interfere with their work 
and sometimes caused serious trouble. Their objec- 

173 



WONDER STORIES 



tion to tlie new engine arose chiefly from their hatred 
of discipline and method, which it involved. For a 
time the reactionaries prevailed, and the new machine 
was put out of commission. 

^'But they were destined to meet more than their 
match. There was a man in Cincinnati, Moses Latta, 
who had not only the ingenuity of the inventor, but the 
courage of the pioneer. He constructed a really suc- 
cessful engine, with one front and two rear wheels; 
it had two horizontal cylinders and weighed 22,000 
pounds. Curiously, it required four horses to supple- 
ment its own power. Water could be thrown in seven 
minutes 225 feet through two, four, or six lines of 
hose. 

'^ Latta was warned to prepare for trouble, if he 
persisted in bringing out this engine; it was even in- 
timated that his life might be in danger. He was a 
short man, of slight physique, but under this exterior 
was hidden an indomitable soul. To every remon- 
strance he only replied : ' I shall build it ! When it is 
finished, it will be heard from at the first fire, and woe 
to those who stand in its way!' The trial came one 
night, in 1853, when a great warehouse in Cincinnati 
took fire, which threatened to spread devastation 
around. The new engine thundered along to the scene 
and soon had the fire under control, although the hose 
was cut by some malicious person and had to be re- 
paired. 

^'The ^ Joe Eoss,' as Latta 's engine was called, had 
a tragic end nearly six years later. It blew up at an 
exhibition, killing the engineer on the spot and injur- 
ing others. But it was soon followed by others, and 
the reign of the modern fire-engine had definitely com- 
menced. 

"One engine, built in Boston, had a remarkable ex- 
perience. It was superannuated after a time and sold 

174 



STORY OF THE FIRE ENGINE 



for junk. It was bought by a man living at St. Charles, 
Illinois, and when a fire in that town proved unman- 
ageable, the old engine was brought out as a last re- 
source. In spite of a cylinder head blowing off, it 
checked the flames and saved the town — and this when 
it was thirty years old! 

*'Now we come to the present era,'* continued the 
Story-teller — *Hhat of the auto engine. The splendid, 
dashing fire horses, that were the delight of our child- 
hood, are almost a thing of the past. To take a typical 
instance. New York City has 126 auto engines in use; 
and it is unlikely that any more horses will be pur- 
chased. Any day now we may see the last fire horse 
pull up at a fire. 

* * Needless to say, the type of fire-engine now in use 
in our large cities is the most powerful fire-fighting 
apparatus in the world. They are capable of throw- 
ing 1,300 gallons of water a minute. The danger of 
any possible mishap is guarded against by special pre- 
cautions. They are fitted with corrugated tires, so 
that they may turn or swerve as they will without 
skidding ; and the steering gear is specially devised for 
any emergency. 

^'The auto fire-engine is a money saver. The 
money spent on feeding the fire horses of Greater New 
York would buy six of the finest auto engines; that 
spent on horse-shoeing would add another fiye; and 
the harness bill would bring the total up to fourteen. 
What may be saved in property through the speedier 
service cannot be estimated, however, vaguely. These 
engines make 18 to 20 miles an hour in crowded streets. 
And some of them carry a supply of water which may 
be thrown, if necessary, five minutes before the hose 
connections are made. ' ' 

^^When was the first fire brigade organized?'' in- 
quired one of the party. 

175 



WONDER STORIES 



^'If we go back to ancient history," said tlie Story- 
teller, *^we find that the Emperor Augustus, early in 
the first century, established a body of men in Rome 
for the purpose of fighting fires, which were only too 
frequent in that city. In the Middle Ages, various 
towns assigned this duty to certain municipal olSicers. 
But the modern fire brigade dates only from the early 
part of the nineteenth century. 

**If you look back across the years you will see the 
devastating flames wiping out cities at tremendous cost. 
There is ancient Rome, all of whose buildings were com- 
pletely destroyed in 64 A. D. Constantinople was almost 
completely destroyed three different times, two of the 
conflagrations costing more than $145,000,000. Moscow 
was completely gutted twice, once in 1383, and again in 
1812, when the citizens set it ablaze rather than have it 
fall into the hands of Napoleon. London was swept in 
1666 at a loss of $60,000,000, and twice in the nineteenth 
century at a loss of $27,000,000. Smyrna fell before 
flames in 1796 at a loss of more than $50,000,000. 

*^Our nation has suffered severely from fires. New 
York lost 600 buildings, valued at $20,000,000, in 1835. 
Boston lost property valued at over $100,000,000 in her 
great fire of 1872, while Chicago lost nearly twice as 
much in her memorable catastrophe of 1871. Balti- 
more burned for two days in 1904 and lost buildings 
which covered nearly 140 acres. San Francisco's total 
loss probably exceeded a half billion dollars. 

*^The annual loss by fire in the United States," 
the speaker concluded, *^is about $220,000,000. What 
it would be without our splendid fire-engines would 
be almost impossible to estimate. The service of the 
fire-engine to civilization is simplv incalculable." 



176 



THE STORY OF THE CHEMISTS WHO 
CREATE OUR POWERFUL EXPLOSIVES 



THE building quivered on its foundations; the li- 
brary windows rattled. Fear blanched the faces 
of several of the Story-tellers. One of them 
peered out of the open window as though looking for 
signs of a thunderstorm — but the stars were twinkling 
genially in a clear sky. 

*^What was thatf cried a hushed voice just as 
a dull rumble resounded through the room. 

**That was a miracle," replied a sober-faced man, 
smiling at the evident anxiety of his friends. ^^It was 
the miracle of modern civilization. Out in the moun- 
tains in the distance some son of sunny Italy, prob- 
ably, has just touched a button and released an earth- 
quake to shake down the rugged hills so that a rail- 
road train may soon plunge through the rocky bar- 



rier. ^ ' 



^'Oh, blasting,'' said one of the gathering, with 
evident relief. 

^^Yes," replied the speaker. ^' Man's new method 
of combating Nature's barriers — ^his greatest servant 
in the creation of our modern edifices, our mighty 
engineering achievements, and in the destruction of 
his foes. 

^* Gunpowder is so commonplace to-day that, in re- 
turn for a few cents, we can buy enough to send our- 
selves into eternity. But did you realize that mankind 
fought its wars even up to thirteen centuries after the 
dawn of Christianity without its aid? Perhaps I 

177 



WONDER STORIES 



should add that the Chinese are said to have known a 
substance similar to gunpowder. Authentic history 
says, however, that the sturdy Europeans, bearing the 
Cross, had partly completed their last Crusade in the 
thirteenth century before the Arabians became the 
first to equip their soldiers with a gunpowder sub- 
stance — some historians say about the year 1280. 
Whatever the source, one fact is certain : the English 
marched to war equipped with their first gunpowder 
in the year 1346, and crushed the flower of French 
chivalry with the new agent of destruction at the battle 
of Crecy. 

"Gunpowder reigned supreme for ^ve centuries. 
But in this time scores of chemists were battling ^dth 
Nature in the endeavor to create new forces. The first 
improvement over the original gunpowder is now his- 
torically marked by the name of Berthollet, the French 
chemist who discovered a method of refining it. 

"There are great quantities of g-unpowder and 
other high explosives being manufactured in our coun- 
try every year. They are constantly being transported 
about the country, through cities from the mills to the 
arsenals, and to the great engineering sites and other 
localities, where their mighty power is utilized in a 
hundred different ways. The great Panama Canal 
could never have been built without the power of high 
explosives." 

"How much gunpowder do you chemists produce 
in a year's time in the United States?'' inquired a 
lover of statistics. 

"If you include the value of all other explosives," 
said the Story-teller, "as our government statisticians 
do, then their value is more than $40,000,000." 

He paused for a moment while he consulted a book 
on the table. 

"That means," he resumed grimly, "an amount 

178 



STORY OF EXPLOSIVES 



nearly twice that of all the coffins, burial boxes, and 
undertaker's supplies used to bury the dead in this 
country during an entire year. 

**A juggler of figures, '^ he continued, *^has esti- 
mated what that amount of explosives would mean if 
gathered for one shipment. It would require a solid 
train of freight cars, each carrying thirty tons, long 
enough to cover the entire street railway lines in the 
states of Nevada, New Mexico, and South Dakota. It 
would make a gigantic and awe-inspiring mass, weigh- 
ing over 30,000,000 tons. What would happen to the 
earth if this mass were exploded! I dare not predict, 
but when we remember that it only requires a few 
pounds to blow up the mightiest battleship afloat or 
to raze the tallest building ever erected, then we 
have an inkling of what would happen to our planet. ' ' 

^^What part have American chemists taken in gun- 
powder?" one of the listeners asked. 

^^A wonderful part," replied the Story-teller. 
*^They are to-day the world's leaders in the art of 
turning chemicals and other substances into destruc- 
tive forces. It would require many nights to relate 
their romantic experiences. 

^'The adventures of the Du Pont de Nemours, the 
distinguished French royalists, who came to America 
and laid the foundation for American supremacy in 
the great science of powder-making, is one of the most 
vital chapters in our national history. These friends 
of King Louis XVI declined the offers made by Na- 
poleon and came to the new republic of the United 
States. Here they established in Wilmington, Dela- 
ware, the industry that furnished the powder with 
which we have fought our great patriotic wars — and 
through these victories have made this nation one of 
the world's greatest powers. Moreover, it is to one of 
these nation builders, Lamotte Du Pont, that America 

179 



WONDER STORIES 



owes the distinction of giving to the world the mighty 
force known as ^blasting powder/ the substance which 
has prepared the way for the building of the great 
dams, irrigation plants, bridges, tunnels, cities. 

*^I wish that my time would allow me to tell you 
the whole story of these men of epoch-making achieve- 
ments. I would like to tell you how Colonel Rodman 
created the powder known to the world's armies and 
navies; how Charles E. Monroe produced what is 
known as homogeneous smokeless powder, composed 
of a single chemical substance, and many other equally 
interesting tales. 

^^But I can say only a few words about one of the 
most vigorous personalities in this generation — the 
reincarnation of a Viking king in modem times. If 
you could go with me into the lakes and hills of New 
Jersey, I could take you to a delightful village on the 
shore of one of these lakes. 

^'As we knock on the door of a home, beautiful 
in its surroundings and its private life, we would be 
greeted by a man who looks as though he came out of 
an old Viking castle. His massive head is crowned 
with heavy white hair ; his frame is built like a struc- 
ture of steel ; his voice is deep and strong, and withal, 
there is a gentleness to this man of terrible explo- 
sives — for we stand face to face with Hudson Maxim, 
the first inventor to solve four of the most important 
problems in the development and use of our explo- 
sives; first, the smokeless powder; second, the high 
explosive bursting charge for armor-piercing pro- 
jectiles ; third, the safety-delay-action detonating fuse 
for exploding high explosive projectiles; and fourth, 
the harnessing of a high explosive compound to make 
it burn without explosion as a motor fluid for driving 
a turbine. 

^'Many are the tales that could be told about this 

180 



STORY OF EXPLOSIVES 



giant in body and brain, who came out of the Maine 
woods as a youth and mastered not only many of the 
hidden secrets of Nature, but literally shook the earth 
with the substance which he called ^Maximite.' 

^ 'Let me tell you of some of the commonest miracles 
these chemists perform. One of them takes a handful 
of cotton — old rags or paper would serve nearly as 
well — and treats this with a little nitric acid. K you 
were in his laboratory when he does this, you would 
not understand what a wonderful transformation had 
taken place, for the cotton would still be merely cot- 
ton to the uninitiated. But to the chemist it has become 
the most powerful of destructive agents— the explo- 
sive known as gun-cotton. A few pounds of it, you will 
recall, was sufficient to tear the heart out of the battle- 
ship Maine and send it with its crew to the bottom of 
Havana harbor. 

**If you only knew it," continued the speaker, 
''each of you, some time during the day, uses this 
demon incarnate in some manner or form. Here is 
again where the wizardry of the chemist is exemplified. 
Did you know that gun-cotton, under another name, 
stalks through our streets at all hours of the day, 
draped about our ladies in the form of artificial silk; 
or holds up her hair, in the form of hair combs and 
ornaments ; or graces her feet in the form of imitation 
leather. 

*'You cannot escape it in modern civilization. It 
makes the home a veritable volcano. The celluloid 
comb, brush and mirror resting on the dressing table 
contain sufficient gun-cotton to blow the house to 
pieces; the music room contains in the keys of the 
piano sufficient destructive force to annihilate any 
occupant of the room; and the writing table with its 
blocks of correspondence paper — gun-cotton and 
camphor — is a veritable potential submarine mine. 

181 



WONDER STORIES 



*^For the benefit of our friends gathered here, I 
might say that every time you cut or burn your hands, 
and treat the wound with medicated collodion, the 
wound is covered with pure gun-cotton. After the 
ether has evaporated there is sufficient gun-cotton left 
to instantly amputate your entire hand, if the chemist 
had not treated the substance beforehand and thus 
removed its ^ power.' '' 

The speaker paused. 

**Let me say a few words about the story of dyna- 
mite,'' said the chemist. ^'It is one of tragedy, sub- 
lime perseverance and courage. It begins with the 
creation of nitroglycerine in the form in which Sobrero 
gave it to the world, the handling of which was vir- 
tually equivalent to suicide. To-day it is as harmless 
as a friction match, when it is handled as it should be, 
which is no more than a human being demands. For 
this we are indebted to that English scientist whose 
benefactions to the world of science did not end here, 
but still continue after his death in the form of the 
famous Nobel prize. This man, Alfred Nobel, fought 
a mighty battle with the explosives, which once blew 
up, killing his brother and a collaborating chemist, 
crippling his father for life, and razing the building 
in which they worked to the ground. From this holo- 
caust young Alfred miraculously escaped uninjured 
to carry on his experiments until he had created the 
wonderful modern dynamite. 

*^ These are some of the more important high ex- 
plosives which the genius of man has wrested from 
Nature and combined into forces which rival those of 
the earth's volcanoes. To-day, they are the abject 
servants of man, ready to be converted into raging 
forces, or to serve in the quiet affairs of daily life. ' ' 



182 



THE STORY OF THE GOLD MINER WHO 
DIGS NUGGETS FROM THE SOIL 



"A /f"Y story,'' said the Story-teller, standing in the 
I y J_ center of the library, a picture of perfect phys- 
ical manhood, *4s of that miracle which has 
lured the generations. You have all read of it and 
have been fascinated by its power. It has demolished 
and created nations. 

^'It lured Hercules into the dragon-guarded garden 
of the Hesperides; Jason and the Argonauts to the 
shores of the Black Sea; the Phoenicians into Spain; 
the Romans into Britain. Columbus braved the perils 
of an unknown sea for it; Cortez and Pizarro con- 
quered Mexico and Peru in its name ; Britons traveled 
to the far south in Africa to capture it ; Yankees over- 
ran California in search for it ; Americans traveled to 
the Frozen North — " 

The speaker's meaning suddenly dawned on several 
of the listeners, and their voices rang out in chorus : 

^^Gold!" 

*'That is the magic word," said the Story-teller. 
'*It has rung out in all parts of the world, in all kinds 
of languages, and its echoes resound down the corri- 
dors of time. It has been the tocsin which has gath- 
ered greater armies than any battle-cry ever uttered. 
It has steeled brave hearts to the discovery of new 
worlds, and it has strengthened other brave spirits into 
populating those worlds with marvelous cities and 
rural empires. 

*^In this generation we see gold on every side. You 

13 183 



WONDER STORIES 



can find it in myriad forms in the arts and industries — 
in the artistes pigments, on milady's fingers, or, it may 
be, flashing back the sun's rays from the lofty height 
of a state capitoPs tower. Authorities have estimated 
that about one-sixth of the gold mined enters into the 
arts and industries, the balance being divided up into 
gold coins and bullion. Billions of dollars worth of 
gold have been lost. It is one of the mysteries of the 
ages where it has gone. It is suspected that much of 
it has disappeared into the Mahometan ^graveyards 
of gold.* These are the secret hoarding-places of the 
Moslems, who sell their crops and wares for gold and 
secrete it 

* ^ Gold is a coquette. It lurks in nearly all parts of 
the world in great abundance. But its disguises are 
multifarious, and it only lets its hiding-place be known 
when the increase of population absolutely demands 
its power. Thus, with our increased population, there 
is more gold in the world to-day than there ever was 
before. From the discovery of America to the year 
1911, $14,308,237,000 worth of gold had been wrested 
from the earth's treasure haunts. Pure gold of that 
value would weigh about 23,725 tons. If it could all 
be gathered and formed into a pillar 20 feet in diame- 
ter, the top would reach within about 25 feet of the 
crown on the Statue of Liberty. 

**Our National Treasury is a veritable gold mine 
itself. There is a fortune greater than King Solomon 
ever took out of his mines in Ophir. Twelve hundred 
tons of the precious metal are stored there and in the 
Sub-Treasury in New York's financial district in bags 
like so much salt." 

^^Was gold always the money standard?" inquired 
a listener. 

**No," replied the Story-teller. **The cave-men 
probably knew of its existence but did not consider it 

184 



STORY OF GOLD 



any more valuable than the shiny quartz. It is said 
that it was the Egyptians who first used it to orna- 
ment their women, teaching the art to the Greeks, 
1,400 years before the dawn of the Christian Era. It 
was the use of it for ornamentation that probably 
suggested its use as money. You will remember that 
the great lawgiver Lycurgus forbade his Spartans to 
use it in either form. 

* ^ Gold and silver have always fought for supremacy 
in the money marts. From ancient times until the 
seventh century, both gold and silver were standard. 
Then silver assumed the ascendancy until about the 
thirteenth century, when gold again stood beside silver, 
and both metals became standard. During the period 
immediately following the American War for Inde- 
pendence, gold forged ahead and became the standard 
all over the world. 

*^The consequent demand for gold brought on a 
crisis. The world was in the grip of a gold famine. 
The golden hoards of the Incas and Montezuma had 
dwindled into a comparatively small stream. The 
Bank of England was rocking on its foundation, hav- 
ing more than once suspended specie payments. Emi- 
nent economists were predicting another *Fall of the 
Eoman Empire. ' Then, like Moses in the desert, gold- 
seekers in California and in Australia magically 
touched the golden rocks, and, like two reservoirs 
bursting through their dams, two floods of gold 
poured out over the world. Its dazzling sheen changed 
the whole face of industry, altered the course of com- 
merce, shifted masses of people, and reversed the 
movement of prices. 

**It was the dawn of the * Golden Age,' which to- 
day holds us in its thrall. The world has never wit- 
nessed such a rush as followed the discovery of gold 
in California, in 1848. I was one of the modern 

185 



WONDER STORIES 



!A.rgonauts, known to every school boy and girl as the 
American 'Forty-niner.' Its scenes are still fresh in 
my memory — how San Francisco was emptied of its 
adult population, and these gold-seekers were joined 
by others from all parts of the world. Two years 
after James Wilson Marshall found his epochal nug- 
get in John Sutter's mill-race along the Sacramento 
River, there were 100,000 of us gathered on the gold- 
fields, which ranged for 600 miles and covered 8,000,000 
acres. We took out $50,000,000 in that year with our 
crude pans and cradle rockers, and five years later 
exceeded that sum by $15,000,000. 

' ' What we did then is being done to-day, and more, 
for in 1911 California produced over $19,000,000 worth 
of gold and still leads all other American goldfields, 
even Alaska and Colorado, the El Dorados of the later 
generations. The modern miner has revolutionized 
gold mining. We, with our pans and cradles and 
sluices, could only take that gold which lay on or near 
the surface of the earth or in streams. The modern 
miner delves into mountain sides with his electric and 
compressed air drills, often penetrating for thousands 
of feet. 

' ' The lure of gold is still in my blood. It called me 
to the Western gold-fields recently, where I saw the 
modern miner in operation. In some places I found 
them squirting immense and powerful streams of 
water against a hillside like firemen subduing the 
flames. This is the hydraulic method of mining, which 
washes away the gravel and dirt and exposes the gold. 
In another district I found them digging gold just as 
the coal miner does. Deep shafts lead into the bowels 
of the earth, and from these there are tunnels branch- 
ing out. Huge timbers brace the walls and roofs, and 
the miners were drilling holes in the walls with electric 
and compressed air drills. There ore was carried to 

186 



STORY OF GOLD 



the shaft opening in motor cars and thence up the shaft 
in buckets or 'skips.' This is what they called 'quartz' 
mining. Then the ore was taken to the stamp mills 
to be crushed into a fine powder, after which it was 
treated with acids and electric currents, put through 
wonderful machinery, until it came out in the form 
of bullion, ready to be shipped to the mints. 

''I also found the methods of the 'forty-niners' 
in vogue in some places. Men were picking over the 
gravel and washing the ' pay-dirt ' in pans and cradles, 
while others were washing it in troughs, which we used 
to call 'sluices.' One of the men told me that up in 
Alaska they dredged the bottom of the rivers and 
streams with huge dredging machines, such as you 
find cleaning out the bottom of your harbors. 

"As you know, gold is found either in nuggets or 
in grain form. The largest nugget ever dug up is 
said to have been found at Dunolly in Australia, and 
was significantly named 'Welcome Stranger.' It 
weighed 2,217 Troy ounces, nearly two hundred 
pounds, and sold for $52,000. One of the most beauti- 
ful specimens ever dug up was the mass of gold and 
quartz — ^in which the gold ran in threads, wires, lumps, 
and sheets — found near Sydney, New South Wales. It 
stood ^ve feet high, and was one foot wide, and six 
inches thick. 

"But all the gold is not on land. The sea is full 
of it. It is estimated that in every ton of sea-water 
there is nearly a grain of gold. If you could invent," 
said the Story-teller, in conclusion, "a method to ex- 
tract this gold, you would have a fortune whose value 
it would be impossible to begin to estimate." 



187 



THE STORY OF THE SILVERSMITH 
WHO WORKS IN PRECIOUS METALS 



"T SPEAK in behalf of the democrat of the precious 
J[ metals/' said an aged and bent man, whose hair 
had turned gray over the artisan's work-table. 
**It is silver. For every ounce of gold in the world to- 
day, there are nineteen of silver. From the day that 
Columbus first landed in the New World to the day 
that China became a republic, enough silver had been 
mined throughout the world to make 2,488 four-cylin- 
der compound locomotives of the 1911 type, or more 
than 300,000 tons of metal. If this had been sold 
on the market at present-day commercial valuations, 
it would have brought about four billion dollars. Its 
coinage value would have been more than fourteen 
billion dollars, or enough to pay the funded debts of 
Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, and Mexico, as they 
were estimated for the year 1912. 

* ^ Silver is the democrat, ' ' repeated the Story-teller, 
*^and gold is the aristocrat of the precious metals. But 
silver is accepted in circles where gold, because of its 
greater value, cannot enter. You will find it in nearly 
every American home. What family is there to-day 
without its silver knives, forks, and spoons; its silver 
brushes, combs and hand-mirrors? 

^^ Silver performs miracles that gold, owing to its 
chemical nature, cannot duplicate. In the art of 
photography, it faithfully paints exact images upon 
the printing paper. It performs feats of magic in 
medicine, in association with other chemicals. It is 

188 



STORY OF SILVER 



one of the surgeon ^s best friends. When the human 
arteries and like organs break down, it replaces them 
and carries on their functions quite as well as the 
human tissue. And it will carry the electric spark 
further and more easily than any other known metal. ' ' 

*^What country produces the most silver?'' asked 
one of the listeners. 

^* Mexico/' replied the silversmith, ^^with our 
United States crowding it close for the honors. At the 
rate our production is increasing, we will soon lead 
the world. Did you know that the American conti- 
nents, North and South, supplied nearly five-sixths of 
the world's silver in the period commencing on the 
day Cortez conquered the Aztecs and ending in 1912? 
Before the discovery of America, silver was as scarce 
as gold. But when the silver floodgates of the New 
World were opened, it became so abundant that its 
value deteriorated, until to-day 16 ounces of silver 
is considered equal in value to one ounce of gold. 
It costs as much to produce 16 ounces of chemically 
pure silver as it does one ounce of gold. 

^ ^ To transport the silver mined every twelvemonth 
in the United States would require a train of nearly 
200 freight cars, and the shipment would weigh about 
6,300 tons. If you should read the shipping tags on 
these cars, you would probably find that 110 of them 
were destined for the silver and other industrial shops 
in our country. The balance would be distributed 
among the mints and the seaports for shipment to 
foreign lands." 

^^When was silver discovered?" inquired one of the 
gathering. 

**No one knows," was the answer. ^' Man's knowl- 
edge of this useful metal was old even in antiquity. 
The earliest known record of a producing silver mine 
tells of Hannibal, of Carthage, as far back as 200 B. 

189 



WONDER STORIES 



C, taking out 300 pounds of silver from his mine 
every day for many years. His mines were located at 
Gruadalcanal, at the foot of the Sierra Morena, in the 
province of Cordova, Spain, and consisted of horizon- 
tal tunnels extending miles into the mountain. Legen- 
dary history carries it further back than that, telling 
of the famous Pontic city of Alybe where silver 
abounded. Ancient Hebrew tribes described it under 
the name of Keseph. 

' ' Silver is usually found in combination with other 
metals, such as lead, copper, and gold, and is mixed 
with various other chemicals and minerals. Frequently 
it has been found in its pure state, some specimens 
having weighed several hundred pounds. Many of you 
will recall that, a decade after the California gold rush, 
the world was again startled by the discovery of an- 
other El DoradOj this time in Nevada and consisting 
largely of silver. Its name, the Comstock Lode, was 
a household word for many years. It was almost a 
pure vein, about four miles long and 3,000 feet at its 
widest point. From the day of its discovery until the 
year 1890, a period of thirty years, it produced about 
$200,000,000 worth of silver, and about $140,000,000 
worth of gold. In the year 1912, Nevada had again 
assumed the leadership in the production of silver in 
our country, with Montana and Utah close seconds. 
These three states produced in that year nearly a 
third of our total supply. 

^^Out in our Western mountains are sturdy Amer- 
ican miners, forcing the earth to yield up its precious 
metals. You cannot exactly call them 'silver miners,' 
for they are digging for copper, or lead, or even gold, 
in which the silver will be found and from which it 
will be taken out as a by-product. This is true of a 
majority of the American mines to-day. And when 
they have dug the ore and brought it to the surface, 

190 



STORY OF SILVER 



its subsequent treatment is virtually the same as that 
in recovering gold. It passes through a powerful rock 
crusher, whose teeth chew rocks as large as a man's 
body into pebbles, and then to the stamps, where it 
is powdered to almost a dust. Then it is roasted, 
and the silver separates from the other metals. Here 
the silver follows a course of its own, passing through 
amalgamating pans charged with quicksilver, with 
which it unites after being freed of other impurities. 
Then the mass, called ^amalgam,' goes to a retort and 
is heated until the quicksilver passes off in a vapor. 
But the quicksilver is not lost, for one genius con- 
ceived the idea of directing the fumes against water 
which literally freezes it — and again it is quicksilver. 
The silver remains in the retort and, when cooled, is 
the chemically pure silver of commerce. 

*^ Another method is to put the crushed ore through 
a smelter, just as the iron-maker does. When the ore 
has become almost a liquid, resembling lava, the 
precious metals sink to the bottom of the furnace, and 
then the silver is freed from its other constituents by 
breaking up the mass. 

*'Down in Mexico, that marvelous silver store- 
house, ancient methods are still in operation in many 
districts. The ore is crushed in a pit resembling a 
modern fountain and basin. Heavy blocks of porphyry 
are drawn by mules or horses around the basin, crush- 
ing the ore as they revolve. Water is added fre- 
quently, and, when the ore has been reduced until 
the mass looks like thin mud, it is shoveled out, and 
sulphate, of copper added. Several gangs of worn- 
out horses or mules then are driven back and forth 
through the mass to knead it, an operation occupjdng 
the best part of a day. Next day, salt is added and 
kneaded into the mass by the horses, and two days 
later pure quicksilver is throwm in, and again the 

191 



WONDER STORIES 



horses take up their weary task, continuing at it for 
about fifteen clays. After this, the mass is wheeled 
to troughs, where rapid streams of water wash away 
the clay, leaving the silver and quicksilver, which are 
placed in canvas bags, most of the quicksilver running 
through the bags. What remains is drawn out in 
vapor through heating in a retort. This method is 
hard on the feet of the horses, but, strange to say, the 
average Mexican peon can wade around in the puddle 
for days and never suffer any injurious effects. 

**This is the method employed by our southern 
neighbors, and the one by which they produced for 
many centuries about a third of the world's total 
supply. ' ' 

^' Which of our United States did you say leads in 
the production of silver?" asked one of the Story- 
tellers. 

^'Nevada, led in 1912, having held first position for 
two years. Her production was valued at about 
$7,000,000; the second producer is Utah. There has 
been a great rivalry among some of the western states 
for the leading honors. Montana was first for two 
vears, until superseded by Nevada. Colorado led in 
1907. '^ 

*'Is silver confined to the Western states?'* 

*^No. It is found in practically all our states, 
though not in quantities or form which would pay to 
mine it. There are three states in the South — Georgia, 
South and North Carolina — which have mined silver. 
Is it surprising that the old adage should have become 
familiar: ^ Every cloud has a silver lining!' " 



192 



THE STORY OF THE COPPER MINER 
WHO CRUSHES FORTUNES FROM 

ROCKS 



""TXO you want to get rich, quick?'* inquired the next 
I J Story-teller. A whimsical smile lighted his 
weather-beaten face. 

** Yes !*' eagerly responded a chorus of voices. The 
gathering seemed unanimous. 

^'Then get your ships and grappling irons, and we 
will raid the bottom of the seas. There lies a king's 
ransom, more than $1,000,000. Not in sunken galleons, 
but in the 200,000 miles of copper wire forming our 
ocean cables. Divided among all of us — there are a 
hundred present — each will have $10,000. If that is 
not sufficient, then we will turn to the American tele- 
phone, telegraph, trolley and power wires. Here we 
will find $20,000,000 more in copper.'' 

*'But how are we going to carry it away to our 
cave?" asked one potential pirate. 

^^Ah! there's the rub," replied the miner. Turn- 
ing to the railroad man he inquired: *^How many 
freight cars are there on American railways, and how 
many tons will each carry?" 

''More than 2,000,000 in 1911, and each is estimated 
to carry about 33 tons at full capacity," was the 
answer. 

''Good!" exclaimed the miner. "We will raid the 
railways and commandeer every eighth freight car to 
carry our 8,000,000 tons of copper to our haunt. If 
we are not caught, then we can turn to other sources 

193 



WONDER STORIES 



for more. Tlie world is full of it. Wherever you find 
electricity, you will find copper. And wherever there 
is a brass article, a kettle, or an African's nose-ring, 
there also is copper. It is on the bottom of ships ; in 
the eaves-troughs on our buildings; in our medicines, 
and even in our blood. 

*^Up in the State of Michigan, man has come nearer 
to the center of the earth than anywhere else. Here 
a copper mine shaft penetrates more than 5,000 feet 
and is the doorway to a vast subterranean city having 
more than 200 miles of streets, which are lighted by 
electricity. Electrically propelled cars and elevators 
carry the * citizens' of this city under ground, while 
electric and compressed air drills carry on their indus- 
try. What is being done in Michigan is true of many 
of our Western states, notably Montana and Arizona, 
though the mines in the latter regions are not quite 
so deep as these ancient Lake Superior mines. You 
know it was this district which lured the first French 
explorers from Quebec, when America was being 
settled. 

^^ There are more than 80,000 copper mines and 
smelters in the United States, and we are producing 
more than 1,000,000,000 pounds of copper every year. 
We get nearly a third of this from the Arizona mines, 
with the Montana mines standing second. Altogether, 
the copper mines of the United States yield more than 
half of the world's total supply. These mines are pro- 
ducing every 24 hours more copper than was mined in 
a twelvemonth just prior to the American Civil War. ' ' 

**When was copper first discovered?" inquired one 
of the Story-tellers. 

**No one knows," said the speaker. **We do know, 
though, that it was used for weapons and implements 
of industry before iron. And we also know that the 
ancients knew how to temper copper, an art that was 

194 



STORY OF COPPER 



lost in some dark niche of the ages and has not been 
discovered again even to this day/^ 

^^Is copper ever found unmixed with earth and 
rockr* inquired a listener. 

* * Yes, ' ' replied the miner. * ^ But woe be to the mine 
owner that does find it in pure or native state. It 
spells failure immediately, as more than one mine 
owner has discovered. ' ' 

The listeners showed and expressed their surprise. 

**Pure copper,*^ continued the miner, *' cannot be 
dug out, and it will not yield much to blasting. To 
mine it at all requires cutting by cold-chisels, and the 
cost of such operation is far in excess of the value of 
the metal. ' ' 

^^How do you mine copper T^ was the next question. 

** About the same as you would coal or iron. The 
cleaning methods are about the same, except that we 
break the ore up into smaller pieces by huge and power- 
ful stamps, or hammers. There are three methods of 
extracting the copper from the adulterations. One 
method is to roast it, called calcination, to remove the 
arsenic and antimony. Next, it is melted, or smelted, 
to a mixture of copper and iron. In this condition it 
is known as * matte.' This is next melted with coke 
to remove the iron, and then we have the copper of 
commerce. The second method is known as the *wet.' 
The impure ore is soaked and washed around in acids 
which absorb the copper. Then the acids are distilled, 
until only the fine copper remains. 

^^The third method is that called * electrolysis.' In 
this method the crushed ore is placed in vats or pans, 
containing poles of an electric current. The attendant 
turns on the current, and, as though by magic, the cop- 
per separates from the mass and flies to the electrodes, 
coating them in pure copper until the process is com- 
plete. 

195 



WONDER STORIES 



*^Iii recent years the copper miners have adapted 
the Bessemer furnace and converter to their * matte' 
of copper, as it appears in the dry process. Roughly 
speaking, this consists of blowing great draughts of 
air through the molten mass, literally blowing out the 
sulphur and also keeping the mass in a molten condi- 
tion. It requires 4,000 cubic feet of air every minute 
to thus treat forty tons of matte. 

**The Bessemer process has revolutionized the cop- 
per industry. Hours have become minutes, so to 
speak, and acres have become square feet. To-day 
copper ore fed into a furnace in the morning can be 
shipped as 99 per cent, pure metal by evening. The 
old-time methods required about four days. The old- 
time roasting stalls and furnaces, covering many acres, 
have shrunken to a Bessemer furnace and converter 
covering a plot about 25 by 100 feet and capable of 
producing 1,000,000 pounds of copper a month. By 
the old methods, one ton of ore required a full day's 
labor; by the new processes one day's labor reduces 
four tons of ore to fine metal. ' ' 

* ^ Copper has so thoroughly entrenched itself in our 
affairs that it has become indispensable. It stands in. 
the foreranks of our industrial pageant." 



196 



THE STORY OF THE COAL MINER WHO 
FINDS FUEL IN THE EARTH 



THE miner stood watching the combined efforts 
of two Story-tellers to open the library window. 
For many weeks it had been closed, and now 
was virtually sealed. They gave way to the powerful 
man who advanced. Placing one hand against the 
upper sash, the newcomer easily raised it, though it 
protested in shrill squeaks. 

^^You are a strong man!'' ejaculated one of the 
crestfallen men. *^ Where did you become so power- 
fuir' 

*^In the bowels of the earth,'' was the startling 
reply, '* digging for ^buried sunshine.' " 

^^ Buried sunshine?" exclaimed the questioner. 
^^ What is that?" 

^^Coal," was the succinct answer. **You all, no 
doubt, are familiar with the hypothesis of the origin 
of coal — how the mammoth ferns and club-mosses of 
the Carboniferous Age gathered the sunbeams, storing 
the carbon they brought to them, and finally were sub- 
merged during the writhings of the forming earth 
under masses of sand and rock and silt. 

*^Thus God, in His beneficence, deposited in our 
little planet His sunbeams, so that when our earth 
had become one of varying climates and seasons (in 
the Carboniferous Age there were no seasons or 
changing temperatures), man would have a fuel to 
warm his body and to assist him in his mighty achieve- 
ments. 

197 



WONDER STORIES 



^^Tlie abundant forest trees supplied the ancients 
with sufficient fuel, so they did not bother with coal. 
Twelve centuries after the birth of Christ, mankind 
began to use such coal as could be found in England 
and a few other civilized countries. Americans did 
not begin their great coal industry until about the 
dawn of the nineteenth century. Coal had been 
known long before then; Father Hennepin had acci- 
dentally discovered it along the banks of the Illinois 
Elver in 1679; forty years later, a Virginia boy dis- 
covered some in his native state, and a Pennsylvanian 
hunter, by the name of Ginterj found some under an 
up-rooted tree. Its first use was discovered by Oba- 
diah Gore, who burned some in his smith-forge in 
Wiikesbarre in 1769, and Judge Jesse Fell used some 
in a grate to heat his room in 1808. This was the 
genesis of the American coal industry. 

*^ At the first centennial of the American coal indus- 
try, dating the beginning from Judge Fell 's discovery, 
there were more men and boys rescuing * buried sun- 
shine ^ in the United States than there were Americans 
earning their livelihoods as teamsters, hackmen, dray- 
men, and the like. The coal they mined was estimated 
to have a retail value of more than $2,000,000,000, 
The coal they had dug in the preceding decade of 
years was estimated to be sufficient to cover the states 
of Connecticut and Rhode Island with a layer one foot 
deep, with a few hundred thousand tons to spare. 

**Did you ever notice a coal-driver block the wheel 
of his cart with a lump of coal as big as your doubled 
fist? There is enough energy stored in that lump to 
hurl his cart to destruction. That lump, if it weighs 
exactly one pound, contains enough sunshine-energy 
to lift 47 tons 100 feet in the air in the space of a 
minute; it is capable of running an electric car, filled 
to capacity with passengers, for a distance of two and 

198 



STORY OF COAL 



a half miles at the rate of twenty miles an hour ; or it 
would propel a train of six ordinary coaches and a 
heavy Pullman and sleeper one-sixth of a mile at the 
rate of twenty-five miles an hour. 

*'You have said that I am strong," modestly said 
the miner. ^'Did you know that the one-pound lump 
of coal could perform in one minute all the work that 
five men like myself could accomplish in eight hours'? 
It would require the united efforts of 2,800 men to 
accomplish as much work in a minute as the lump of 
coal can do. 

' ' That is the magic of coal. By its magical power 
we are enabled to live through frigid climates and sea- 
sons, to erect monstrous structures, and to journey 
to all parts of the earth, either by land or sea. 

* ^ Coal mining is a battle of giants, human and ele- 
mental. Man is the general, and electricity and com- 
pressed air make up the ranks in this warfare. If you 
should visit our great Pennsylvania coal districts, I 
should advise you to enter the elevator cage and 
descend to the bottom of the main shaft. One mine 
is more than a thousand feet below the surface. Here 
you will step out into a vast subterranean house, 
divided up into corridors, which lead to various rooms. 
Along these corridors, kept ventilated by huge fans 
and connected with terra firma and with each other 
by telephone systems, rumble what appear to be minia- 
ture electric trains, conveying the coal to hoisting 
buckets. On the return trip, one of these electric 
engines will carry you into the depths of the mine, 
whose intense darkness is partially relieved by the 
patent lamp upon your cap. Arriving at the working 
face, you will find the miner, operating an electrically 
driven machine, whose series of knives set upon an 
endless chain gash and tear at the coal vein. In an- 
other room, you will find another miner drilling holes 
14 199 



WONDER STORIES 



in the face with a compressed air machine, making 
ready for the blasting charges. Probably as you at- 
tempt to enter another room, a miner will suddenly 
appear out of the darkened depths to warn you of a 
blast. His comrade pushes a button of an electric 
battery, and the electric impulse darts along the wires 
into the mass of blasting powder. A mufiQed roar and 
tumbling earth tell their own story. If you are 
curious, you will follow the men as they return to the 
room. When the leader motions you back, do not fail 
to obey. Probably much to your astonishment, you 
will see him lift over his head, as he advances alone, a 
tiny bird-cage. Within that cage is a canary bird. 
This little feathered creature holds a high position in 
modem coal mines. By his unfailing instincts he will 
detect the presence of the deadly fire-damp infinitely 
quicker than a human being, and thus he has saved 
hundreds and thousands of lives in our coal mines. 

*^When you return to the surface, follow a load 
of coal as it is sent to the breakers to be broken into 
marketable sizes and cleaned. First it passes through 
the screen made up of bars about six inches apart to 
another screen whose openings are about three inches 
apart. It is on these screens that the coal is cleaned, 
boys picking out the slate and other foreign elements. 
Then it passes onward, being alternately run through 
rollers to be broken up into small sizes and then to 
screens to be cleaned. When it emerges, it is in vari- 
ous forms familiar to the housewife, the furnace man, 
and the engineers. The story of coal is the story of 
progress." 



200 



THE STORY OF THE IRON MINER WHO 

TAKES WEALTH FROM THE 

MOUNTAINS 



"T 7ULCAN lias come to earth!" whispered one of 
V the Story-tellers, as a mighty man rose and 
stepped to the center of the library. 

^*My story is that of iron,'' were his opening words, 
confirming the conjecture of the whispering Story- 
teller. **It is one of the most wonderful of the earth's 
natural treasures. You can trace its presence in every 
phase of life. The food we eat has been cooked in iron 
utensils. The clothes we wear have been made by iron 
machinery. The houses and offices we live and work in 
have been built by and of iron. Our vehicles, over 
land or sea or in the air, are made of iron. In fact, it 
is everywhere — in your veins, in the satin ribbon, it 
tinges the rosy skin of the apple. 

^'Iron has always existed," continued the iron- 
worker. *^When it was first discovered, or who was 
the discoverer, is unknown. The story stretches back 
into the dim twilight of man's existence, where 
shadows and realities are inextricably mingled. Amid 
these shadows stands forth the figure of Tubal-Cain, 
turning iron into agricultural instruments and weapons 
of war, hundreds of years before the Flood swept the 
earth, and about six generations after Adam. Many 
centuries later, we find Og, king of Bashan, sleeping 
upon an iron bedstead ; and still later we find that the 
Israelites have been promised, as especially desirable, 
a land whose stones are iron. We see that the bridge 

201 



WONDER STORIES 



builders of Babylon fastened huge stones together 
with bands of iron, fixed in place by molten lead. 

^*When history becomes history, and not mere con- 
jecture, we find frequent evidence of the use of iron. 
We also find that it was held as too valuable a metal 
for ordinary uses. King Og's bedstead being consid- 
ered the height of luxury, just as a bedstead of gold 
would be to-day. Therein lies th^ magic of my story. 
By the wonderful methods we have of mining the ore 
and of refining it until it is suitable for our purposes, 
we of the modern generations can produce a metal for 
the most humble uses much cheaper than any other 
ordinary metal. Who to-day would consider wearing 
a necklace or a ring of iron, as did some of those 
ancient belles? 

*^Pure iron is never found in the ground. It only 
exists, except in the case of the balsam rocks of Green- 
land, in the heavens. A fireball hurtles across the sky 
and drops to earth. It is a meteor. Thousands fall 
aight and day and on examination are found to con- 
tain a large proportion of pure iron. The iron of 
commerce looks not unlike rich, red earth, being, in 
varying cases, a mixture of iron and earth, carbon, 
sulphur, or oxygen. 

^^Iron mining has flourished in more than half of 
the commonwealths forming our United States at 
some time during their history. As one deposit was 
exhausted, or as a new and richer deposit was dis- 
covered, the miners moved onward. To-day the center 
of the industry rests around Lake Superior, and the 
State of Minnesota is counted the greatest producer. 
We American iron-workers — there are about a million 
of us engaged in all branches of the iron and steel 
industry — produce about a billion dollars' worth of ore 
every year, or more than a third of all mined through- 
out the world. 

202 



STORY OF IRON 



^^Iron mining methods vary, according to the 4ay' 
of the ore. You have all seen the modern steam- 
shovel, that over-grown grocer's sugar-scoop, operated 
by steam, tearing away the earth in great mouthfuls. 
That is the machine which we use when the ore lies on 
or near the surface. If you should look down into 
some of the Lake Superior 'pits,' you would see the 
miners at the bottom as though they were pigmies. 
Or over at another range, notably that near Vermillion 
Lake, you would find a deep shaft extending more than 
1,000 feet into the bowels of the earth, where the 
miners are digging out hard ore and sending it to the 
surface in huge buckets. Or, in another part of this 
district, you will find human moles burrowing under 
the earth in what greatly resembles a rabbit's warren. 
Then they blow this up with blasting powder. 

''Great ore-ships take most of the ore from the 
mines to the iron and steel centers, where it passes 
through the smelting process. Pittsburgh is to-day 
the largest center in the world. There you will find 
mammoth furnaces — great cones, lined on the outside 
with masonry and on the inside with steel jackets, 
between which a constant flow of water passes. They 
stand ninety feet above the ground, and at their tops 
are conical caps, also kept cool by circulating water. 
Through these the ore is dropped into the fiery inte- 
rior, whose heat averages about 550 degrees. As the 
gases generate, they pass oif to an engine which 
utilizes them to heat the blast of the furnace. The 
fierce flames melt the ore, separating the dross from 
the iron. The latter passes out through one side of 
the furnace into sand channels to cool into 'pigs,' 
while the dross, or 'slag,' passes out in another direc- 
tion. This is the iron that you will find in myriad 
forms in everyday life, in your telephone, or tea-kettle, 
mowing machine or locomotive. 

203 



WONDER STORIES 



''Smelting is the magician of the iron industry. 
Even the Romans used the ancient method, the 'air 
bloomery/ consisting merely of a pit dug in a hill. 
Many generations later, English iron-workers found a 
Roman 'clinker' heap in the Forest of Dean, and this 
supplied them with enough material to keep twenty 
furnaces busy for nearly 300 years. Even when Spain 
was the center of the world's iron industry, a crude 
hearth and bellows, known as the Catalan furnace, be- 
cause the industry was carried on in Catalonia, was 
their means of purifying the iron ore. The bloomery 
endured until the latter part of the eighteenth century. 
The first Virginians used them, when they made the 
first attempts in America, in 1619, to manufacture iron. 

"In these old-time methods, the ore and fuel were 
put together in the furnace. Charcoal was the only 
fuel which did not leave impurities in the finished 
iron. In the year 1784, Henry Cort, an Englishman, 
discovered the puddling process, a method which sepa- 
rated the fuel from the ore during smelting operations, 
thus permitting almost any kind of fuel to be used. 
The evolution of the furnace was gradual. From an 
open hearth whose blast was cold air, it has changed 
to a conical shaped furnace with a closed top, and the 
gathering gases are made to burn again beneath the 
blast pipes, thus heating the air of the blast. 

"To-day we have around Lake Superior huge 
mining industries, which, together with their trans- 
portation facilities, represent a cash investment of at 
least $500,000,000. This district, producing enough ore 
whose value is sufficient to pay the interest on our 
public debt for two years, is the world's greatest pro- 
ducer, yielding more than double that of any other 
mining district on earth." 



204 



THE STORY OF THE OIL DRILLER WHO 
TAPS THE EARTH FOR RICHES 



" TT^ VERY-ONE has heard of Aladdin and his won- 
j[2j derful lamp and listened to the story of the Ori- 
ental magician who did so many strange things 
with his wand," said the next Story-teller — a man 
who had traveled the whole world over — ^'but I will 
tell you a tale more wonderful still, and the strangest 
thing about it is that it is true. It is about oil — the 
very same kind of oil Aladdin burned in his lamp. 

*^It is an old story, but few people really know 
aboui it. It began millions of years ago, when the 
earth was created. There were earthquakes and vol- 
canoes. Places where the sea once rolled were lifted 
up into mountain peaks. Mighty lakes, covered for 
ages with all kinds of plants and trees, were sub- 
merged under soil and rock. Then a great decompo- 
sition set in. Where all this vegetable matter was 
covered up, gases were generated, liquids oozed out, 
and pools were formed. Then, after years and years, 
the peculiar liquid that we call oil began to make its 
appearance here and there, like the fresh water 
springs we see in the country. 

*^The Greek historian Herodotus tells of the 
famous oil pits of Anderrica, near Babylon, 484 years 
before Christ. In the first century of the Christian 
era, another famous man, named Diocondes, relates 
how the ancient city of Agrigentum, in Sicily, was 
lighted and heated with oil. After this, news of the 
discovery of an oil well was heard from time to time 

205 



WONDER STORIES 



in the different parts of Europe. The Japanese 
boasted of their 'burning water' in the seventh cen- 
tury. The famous oil springs of Baku, in Russia, were 
the talk of the civilized world in the thirteenth century. 

' ' The first to tell of the discovery of oil in America 
was Sir Walter Raleigh, in 1595. It became legendary 
that the New World was rich in oil. A well at Barke- 
ville, Kentucky, ^delded such great quantities of oil in 
1820 that on one occasion it overflowed to the Cum- 
berland River and seemed to 'set the river on fire.' 
It was not until 1853 that an American suggested the 
idea of using oil to light our homes. Far-seeing men 
saw in this idea a royal road to fortune. The first 
oil company was formed and failed. The first man to 
be successful in mining the mineral was E. L. Drake, 
who came upon it through an accident. A couple of 
workmen were drilling at Oil Creek, Pennsylvania, on 
the 28th of August, 1859; they suddenly felt their 
tools drop into an underground cavern, sixty-nine feet 
down. The following day oil was 'struck.' This was 
the beginning of our modern oil industry. ' ' 

"When I talk about oil," said the Story-teller, 
reminiscently, "I am always reminded of the stories 
of how the East Indians touched the ground with their 
wand, and flames sprang up from the earth. The mod- 
ern expert going forth to-day to find the oil, unguided 
by the witchery of Indian magic, does greater feats 
than were ever dreamed of in the wildest lore of 
Araby. Armed with nothing save an accurate knowl- 
edge of rock formation, he goes into dreary wastes 
and barren hillsides. Pointing to the ground, he tells 
the workman that here must be put his drill — for here 
is the oil hidden in the bowels of the earth. The 
workman, wondering, does as he is told. A big beam, 
70 feet high and 20 feet at a wooden base, is reared 
over the spot. A locomotive with twelve or fifteen 

206 



STORY OF OIL 



horse-power is installed, and the work is begun. As 
certain as the snn rises, oil is ^struck.' The method 
employed for drilling is the same that is used for ar- 
tesian wells. The drilling not only locates the oil, but 
also helps, with the aid of natural gas, to bring it to 
the surface. One well to every five acres is the usual 
number drilled. Explosions of nitro-glycerine torpe- 
does release soil where there is no gas pressure. The 
oil is pumped into wooden tanks, from which it is con- 
veyed through pipes to the distilling stations. 

*'The first means of transporting Pennsylvania oil 
was by storing it in wooden casks and floating them 
down the Allegheny Eiver. Later, four miles of pipe 
line were laid by Samuel van Sykle at Titusville, 
Pennsylvania. To-day, there is a vast network of 
25,000 miles of pipe lines stretching all over the coun- 
try. Laden oil trains rush across the continent, with 
their long trains of cars. Steamships ride the waves 
with their tanks full, to answer the call of China and 
Japan and far-away New Zealand for their supply of 
American oil. 

'^When the crude oil is first taken out of the 
ground, it is offensive to the smell and varied of color. 
It is then distilled at the depots from which it had 
been conveyed from the wells. Fraction by fraction, 
the mighty stores in the great wooden-shaped reser- 
voirs are purified. From this crude oil we get our 
benzine and naphtha, which are used by freezing ma- 
chines and all kinds of motors ; our kerosene for light, 
lubricating oil for machinery, and vaseline for me- 
dicinal purposes. 

''The value of oil to humanity can only be esti- 
mated by its multitude of uses. 

''And I am going to astound you," continued the 
Story-teller. "Do you know that enough oil has been 
taken out of the bowels of the earth, right here in the 

207 



WONDER STORIES 



United States, to form a tank line around the globe — 
not once but a hundred times ? If all the barrels of oil 
taken from our American soil could be lined up to- 
gether, it would take 500 cities the size of Manhattan 
Island, New York, to hold them. It would keep a 
light burning in the Statue of Liberty for billions of 
years. Over 265,000,000 barrels of petroleum (forty- 
two gallons each), are produced annually in the world. 
The United States leads with about 167,000,000 bar- 
rels a year. 

^^ Truly the story of oil is a wonderful one. No 
novelist has ever lived whose imagination was so fer- 
tile as to prophesy even in fiction the growth of this 
industry, which is but a little over a half century old. 
The plain story of oil becomes more wonderful with 
every passing year, as it brings its reports of new 
fields and new springs exporting their millions of gal- 
lons of oil into the vast storehouses of man. Lastly, 
it has created colossal fortunes and made John D. 
Rockefeller the richest man in the world. 

^^The story of how, through the genius of oil, a 
country boy has become the richest man in the world 
is far more romantic than the tales of knighthood. It 
is a story of frugality, thrift, courage and persever- 
ance which culminates in the picturesque figure of an 
aged gentleman spending his patriarchal days in be- 
stowing almost incalculable gifts on humanity. The 
real story of oil is the life-story of John D. Rocke- 
feller and his benefactions which have made possible 
the organization of the American system of higher 
education under the General Education Board, the 
establishment of such institutions as the University of 
Chicago, the founding of the Rockefeller Institute for 
Medical Research, and innumerable other benefactions 
that are contributing to the uplift and happiness of 
the human race, ' ' 

208 



THE STORY OF THE WELL DIGGER 
WHO CONQUERS THE NATURAL GASES 



*'/^^NE day not long ago,'' began this Story-teller, 
\^ a man who appeared to be a mechanic, ^ ' I was 
walking along through the country. Suddenly, 
I saw huge pillars of flame leap from the earth, shoot- 
ing hundreds of feet into the sky. For a moment they 
seemed to die away and then again great tongues of 
white flame burst from the earth and seemed to lick 
the sky. 

^^I stood spellbound," exclaimed tlie speaker, ^* un- 
til some one near by told me the secret of this magnifi- 
cent spectacle. It was natural gas. 

' ' The story of this ' eternal flame ' leaping from the 
bowels of the earth in many parts of the world begins 
with the myths of the ancient fire gods. For thou- 
sands of years the ancient records of China and Japan 
have told of this wonderful vision. But it was in Italy, 
in 1226, that we first hear of its being used as a means 
of artificial light and heat. Then it seems to have 
been forgotten, for practically nothing more is heard 
of it until the seventeenth century, when a country 
squire, rambling through the forests in England, acci- 
dentally came across a vein of the product. In the 
nineteenth century gas was found in other parts of 
Europe. 

^ ' The startling phenomenon of this mysterious gas 
bursting from the ground was first witnessed in the 
United States in 1821, by the villagers of Fredonia, 
New York, but the occurrence passed without further 

209 



WONDER STORIES 



agitation. Thirty-eight years later, in 1859, the pres- 
ence of gas was detected in great quantities in Penn- 
sylvania. Little was known of its value^ however, so, 
to prevent combustion of the oil, the natural gas was 
conveyed to a safe distance and burned as a nuisance. 

'^The great awakening to the usefulness of this 
* dangerous vapor* came in 1872, when it was conquered 
by the genius of man in Pennsylvania and forced to 
go to work for him. It was found that, imprisoned 
in the great stone caverns of the earth, are millions 
upon millions of gallons of petroleum. This oil throws 
off powerful gases which, when released, are forced 
by compression through the porous rock to chambers 
in the earth. A drill, mounted on a beam about 
seventy feet high and twenty feet at the wooden base, 
is used to puncture the gas vein. The natural gas 
rushes to freedom with an average pressure of 200 
to 600 lbs. to the square inch. There was recently a 
case in Pennsylvania where the recorded pressure was 
800 to 1,000 pounds. The gas is then conserved in a tank 
and directed into iron pipes. Meters measure the gas 
and it is conveyed in all directions to light the homes 
and to generate heat and power in the factories. *' 

^^How much of this gas is there in the earth T' 
asked a listener. 

*^It is beyond all human dreams," replied the Story- 
teller. *^ There are yet new regions to be found; new 
fields to be explored. Day after day the storehouses 
of the earth are giving up new supplies. An idea of 
its vast volume can be judged only by the waste which 
occurs in the United States alone by accidentally punc- 
turing gas veins and allowing the vapor to escape. A 
million cubic feet of natural gas is escaping every day 
in Oklahoma. The value of this for a single year is 
$7,500,000. The fuel value of it is equal to 1,250,000 
tons of the best bituminous coal. The waste is still 

210 



STORY OF GAS 



more deplorable in Louisiana where the means of heat 
are wasted in the air and the people are paying for 
coal which must be brought from a distance. The 
wastes in but three states made a grand total of 
$23,000,000 worth of natural gas lost forever, 

^'No one can estimate the possibilities of natural 
gas,'' concluded the Story-teller. '^They are beyond 
calculation. Millions of homes will no doubt be lighted 
in the future through this medium of Nature's hot 
breath; thousands of factories will be run with the 
power it creates. Electricity will probably rely upon 
it for its generation. And the entire machinery of 
the country may be controlled by its supply. It will 
do away with germs and dust, bringing cleanliness to 
home and factory; it will lighten work, and as a result, 
prolong life by preserving health. The ^miracle' of 
fire leaping from the ground has come as a new evi- 
dence of the incalculable riches that remain hidden in 
the heart of the earth. 

^'Though Nature has richly endowed this earth 
with natural gas, man has found it expedient to make 
his own. His methods are various. I will explain 
one of them to you. 

^^The gas-maker creates coal gas by burning bitu- 
minous coal in furnaces which have no outlet excepting 
those through which the gas fumes pass into a con- 
denser. This resembles the interior of a water-heater, 
with a net-work of pipes through which water flows to 
cool the gas and congeal the tar. Next it is led to the 
scrubbers, cast-iron cylinders in which the gas is given 
a shower bath of water to cleanse it of ammonia, sul- 
phur compounds and other impurities. Then it passes 
on through purifying boxes, filled with either lime or 
*iron sponge', and is then sent on to the great storage 
tanks from which it will be fed out to the people to 
turn night into day. ' ' 

211 



THE STORY OF THE FOUNDRYMAN 
AXD THE GIAXT KXOWX AS STEEL 



"rir^HIS is the day of giants — there is no denying 

J[ the truth. We see them wherever we turn our 

eyes — giants that step from flaming furnaces 

and stretch their enormous frames over valleys and 

rivers, or snort fire from their nostrils, or float on 

the waves like sea monsters.'^ 

The man who spoke was somewhat of a giant him- 
self; he stood nearly seven feet tall, head and shoulders 
above the Story-tellers who surrounded him. 

'^I came here direct from a blast furnace," he said, 
gruflly. *^My business is to turn huge kettles of molten 
metal into far leaping steel bridges, towering steel 
sk^^scrapers, deep steel tunnels under the earth, steel 
greyhounds of the ocean, steel engines running swiftly 
across continents on steel tracks. 

^^I am a worker in a steel mill. I watch the molten 
masses of iron daily transformed into that greatest 
of metals — ^yes, greater than gold and silver — the 
metal that is the backbone of our modern civilization. 
First we had the Stone Age; then the Bronze Age; 
then the Iron Age; this is the Steel Age.'* 

^^Was steel known to the ancients f inquired some 
one. 

^^Undoubtedly," replied the Story-teller. ''Da- 
mascus, that hoary old city of the East, was famous 
for its sword blades. So finely tempered were they 
that they could cut through floating gauze, and, if 
bent to a right angle, would fly back to their original 

212 



STORY OF STEEL 



shape. Toledo, too, the Spanish city, was for centuries 
renowned for its blades. The ancient Romans used 
steel extensively for their armor and weapons. In- 
deed, it may be said that, down to comparatively re- 
cent times, almost the sole use to which steel was put 
by mankind was in producing the accessories of war. 

^^But in these times the amount of steel used for 
warlike purposes is only a fleabite compared with that 
employed in the arts of peace. Take the case of the 
railroads alone. At the present moment, the rails laid 
throughout the length and breadth of the United 
States represent a weight of 70,000,000 tons, whilst 
the engines in use total nearly 5,000,000 more." 

**What is it that causes this magic transformatipn 
of iron into steel?'' asked a listener. 

**Just a bit of carbon," replied the giant; **a min- 
eral found in various forms, sometimes as soot or 
charcoal, at other times as a diamond. ' ' 

He drew a small knife from his pocket and opened 
the blade. 

^'Just take away a hundredth part of that blade," 
he said, ^*and you can't cut that pencil." 

'^What do you mean?" asked the other, in sur- 
prise. 

^^Well, that knife is made of steel, and steel is just 
99 parts iron, one part carbon. It's the carbon that 
gives it the qualities of steel." 

**How is steel made?" asked one of the audience. 

**The molten iron," replied the speaker, *4s run 
onto a train of ladles, whose locomotive draws it to 
the open-hearth department of the steel works. There 
air is blown through it by what is called the Bessemer 
process. Or it is poured into a kind of oven and sub- 
jected to a fierce heat. Then it is poured into a gigan- 
tic ladle, capable of holding fifteen to twenty tons, 
which is swung by a crane to a position just above a 

213 



WONDER STORIES 



train of ingot molds placed in little trucks on a rail- 
road track. Through a hole in the hottom of the ladle 
the steel is poured into each mold, filling it to the 
top; and, when it has cooled sufficiently to stand, the 
molds are stripped off, and there are the ingots — 
massive blocks of steel, six feet high, a^d a foot or 
more thick, and still red-hot. 

^^Then the little train moves on to the soaking 
pits, where an overhead crane, with a pair of jaws like 
huge ice tongs, seizes each ingot and lowers it into a 
pit, where its temperature is equalized, the surface 
being warmed by a 'gas flame, whilst the inner part 
cools down. It then goes to the roll-tables, where it 
is squeezed into shape, according to the use for which 
it is designed. 

^ ^ What happens then 1 ' ' exclaimed the Story-teller. 
^'It is sent forth to perform its mighty mission in 
the world. Forthwith it takes a myriad forms of use- 
fulness. It girdles the earth with railroads. It lines 
the huge buildings of our cities. It builds up the ma- 
chinery of the factory. It prints the newspaper. It 
fills the surgeon's case. It ploughs and reaps the har- 
vest of the world. It moves the giant vessel over the 
ocean. It makes the world's clothing. Is there any- 
thing of importance in the affairs of men in which the 
great magician. Steel, does not have a part? 

*^A11 this wondrous story dates from yesterday. 
A century ago, steel played a hardly greater part in 
our lives than in those of our primeval ancestors. At 
the beginning of the nineteenth century, about 35,000 
tons of steel were made annually in Great Britain, then 
the greatest producer in the world. It produced six 
and a half million tons in 1911. But the United States 
has quadrupled that figure, with 24,000,000 tons out 
of the world's output of 58,000,000. We lead the 
world not only in production, but in the use of steel. 

214 



STORY OF STEEL 



^'When Bessemer, an Englisliman, suggested Ms 
new process for making steel, in 1855, from cast iron 
without fuel, lie was laughed to scorn. But Americans 
were quick to see the possibilities of the invention, 
and the production of steel by the new process in- 
creased by leaps and bounds in this country. How as- 
tonishing this progress has been is shown by the fact 
that, at the opening of the twentieth century, the 
United States was producing steel to the value of the 
total production of all the gold mines of the world. 

*^But to-day! Let us try to get an idea of the 
magnitude of the present annual product of steel in 
the United States — which is five times the total pro- 
duction of the world twenty years ago. Suppose that 
for one year the country could spare from its ordinary 
use all the steel produced and devote it to ornamental 
purposes. It would make a magnificent colonnade of 
pillars 4,150 on each side, 20 feet in diameter and 100 
feet high. Or, if we preferred it, we could build one 
colossal column, 100 feet in diameter, and pile it up 
higher than the loftiest peak in the world. '^ 

^'Is there not a great difference in the various 
qualities of steel?" inquired some one. 

^^A very great difference," answered the steel- 
worker. ^ ' The same quality used for building a bridge 
would not do for making a razor. The value varies 
from about $35 to about $300 per ton. The quality 
depends on the quantity of carbon present, which is 
slightly less in the cheaper kinds. 

*^In the old days," exclaimed the speaker, ^* steel 
was used in destroying human life — that was almost 
its sole use. In these times, it is employed for protect- 
ing and preserving human life. Even in the case of 
a great railroad accident, the disastrous effects are 
minimized by the use of steel cars. And here should 
15 215 



WONDER STORIES 



be mentioned one of the most beneficial purposes to 
which steel has been applied — the construction of 
great buildings. It has proved its worth in the pres- 
ence of fire and earthquake. In the great Baltimore 
fire, the framework of the steel buildings stood un- 
scathed, even when exposed to the full severity of the 
conflagration. An even more convincing illustration 
was provided in the San Francisco earthquake, when 
the tall, steel-ribbed buildings stood practically int-act, 
after enduring shocks which threw everything around 
them to the ground. And tests made of steel corrosion 
show that the life of such buildings is practically as- 
sured for generations. 

''The strength of steel is phenomenal. The num- 
ber of strands in a steel rope an inch in circumference 
varies from 40 to 400, and a strand as large as a 
knitting needle will require a ton weight to tear it 
apart ! 

^'As America has become the empire of steel, so is 
Pittsburgh its capital. Around it, stretching in every 
direction in a huge circle, is a net work of steel-making 
towns. Steel has multiplied the population of Pitts- 
burgh by ten during the past 50 years and has doubled 
it during the past twenty. It has made more million- 
aires, and more quickly, than any other industry." 

'^What of the future?" said the Story-teUer, in con- 
clusion. ^ ^ I have no doubt that we shall see even more 
remarkable developments in the future. And, so long 
as America is at the head of the steel industry, it will 
lead the world. ^The nation that makes the cheapest 
steel,' said Andrew Carnegie, ^has the other nations 
at its feet.' Steel has come to be the basis of all 
material progress, and our civilization is built, as it 
were, upon a framework of steel." 



216 



THE STORY OF THE FARMER WHO IS 
THE FOUNDATION OF CIVILIZATION 



THERE was considerable excitement at the Story- 
tellers ' club on the evening of this stoiy. It 
had been rnmored that a wonderful tale w^as to 
be told. Suddenly, a man of magnificent physique 
arose. His powerful figure was clad in plain clothes 
of good texture. Except for his rugged and bronzed 
countenance, he appeared like the old-time American 
statesman — the type that has been seen so frequently 
in the halls of Congress. 

**I am a farmer," were the introductory words 
which brought surprise to the faces of the gathering, 
for he was far from what their imagination had pic- 
tured the ordinary farmer to be. 

*^A modern American farmer," he added. **It is 
about modern American farming methods that I am to 
tell you to-night — a story of magic — the wonder story 
of that art which is the foundation of all human life. 

^'I do not believe," he resumed, ^*that it is neces- 
sary for me to point out that without the farmer you 
could not live — the ages have proven that. But do you 
city folks realize what a vast army of Americans it 
requires to keep your bodies alive? The government 
officials recently counted all Americans who were en- 
gaged in gainful occupations. They found that of all 
the groups of industry there was none which had a 
membership equal to that of farming. They found 
that, not counting our babies and children under ten 
years of age, we are more numerous than the entire 

217 



WONDER STORIES 



population of Persia, or of Argentina and Bolivia to- 
gether — ^we number something like 10,000,000. 

^^Do you know that about half the entire land area 
of this country belongs to the farmer? Do you know 
that he has cut up this vast domain into nearly 
6,000,000 farms which in 1910, together with all its 
equipment, represented an investment of about 
$41,000,000,000? What this vast area really means 
can be better illustrated by comparing it with some 
well known countries. It is many acres larger than 
all of Argentina, and it is eleven times larger than 
Italy; it is six times larger than France, and seven 
times larger than Spain. 

^'The average American farm, including improved 
and unimxproved land, covers more ground than do 
some of our small cities. Out in the great West, how- 
ever, there is a single wheatfield, and I do not know 
that it is the largest in our country, which alone covers 
more ground than does the city of San Francisco. 

*^The United States is said to be the wealthiest 
nation of the earth. She holds her head proudly above 
the others, but if you look to see what her feet are rest- 
ing upon you will find the farmers' piles of produce. 
Every twelve months the American farmer is produc- 
ing nearly ten billion dollars' worth of crops. Figura- 
tively speaking, when our nation stands on our annual 
com crop, the rest of the world, all nations included, 
measure about to her knees. By standing on either 
our cotton, wheat, oats, or tobacco, she still looms 
above the rest of the world." 

^^Will you tell me," interrupted the manufacturer, 
*^how this is possible when Americans are leaving the 
farms for the cities, as I understand they are!" 

^'That is true," replied the Story-teller. **But 
have you also noticed that our nation, even without 
these helpers, is producing larger crops than it ever 

218 



STORY OF AGRICULTURE 



did in all its history! The answer is — scientific agri- 
culture. That is the miracle, made possible by educa- 
tion and machinery. A century ago, when the old- 
time methods were in use, 97% of all Americans were 
from necessity tillers of the soil. 

''They had to be — ^the alternative was starvation," 
he added grimly. * ' Then a bushel of wheat in the bag 
represented about three hours of human hard labor. 
To-day, by our modern methods, such a bag represents 
about ten minutes. It is through this fact that we can 
supply your mills and banks with employees, and still 
produce banner crops. 

''The progressive American agriculturist of to-day 
must have as liberal an education as any worker in 
the nation. He must be an agricultural chemist, an 
engineer and mechanic, a bacteriologist. He must un- 
derstand eugenics as they apply to his stock, rural 
economics, horticulture, soil physics, agronomy and 
thremmatology. That last is the science of breeding 
new kinds of plants, as well as animals. 

*'The ancients practiced and appreciated agricul- 
ture, or husbandry, as they liked to call the science. 
It was Cicero who made Cato say; 'The home of a 
good and industrious husbandman is stored with 
wealth, and nothing can be more beautiful, nothing 
more profitable than a well cultivated farm.' Wher- 
ever you go throughout our nation you will find flour- 
ishing farm lands circling round cities and towns. 
There you will find great fields of growing grain, 
heavily burdened orchards of fruit, trim and scien- 
tifically arranged farm buildings; modern suburban 
homes lighted by electricity, (as are the farm build- 
ings), heated by modern methods, equipped with the 
latest housekeeping devices, connected with neighbors 
and cities by telephone wires, which also radiate 
throughout the whole farm, connecting the owner with 

219 



WONDER STORIES 



all points of Ms field of operations. You may meet 
the farmer and his wife and children speeding along- 
macadamized highways in high-power automobiles, 
the children destined for a modernly equipped school 
where they study the science of agriculture as well as 
the studies of the city student, the wife probably doing 
her social calls, while the farmer continues onward to 
sell his crops in the city. 

*^ If you get off your train and go out to that model 
farm you noticed, you probably will find one worker 
putting blue litmus paper into the ground to find out 
if the soil is sour; or another may be knocking half 
the apples off from the trees, so that the remaining 
fruit will be of better quality. In the cow barn another 
may be spreading raw phosphate to be put in the soil 
to assist the plants and grains to grow. Out in a field 
a worker is spreading a coating of soil, brought from 
another field, to inoculate the poorer soil with bacteria 
and help the legumes to flourish. That thundering 
noise you hear is the dynamite exploding or subsoiling 
the earth so that the roots of the crops can penetrate 
further into the earth and get nourishment that other- 
wise would be forever cut off from them. 

*' These are a few of the scientific methods which 
have enabled the modern farmer to perform that 
miracle of * making two blades of grass grow where 
one grew before.' Let us turn to the reports of the 
Agricultural Department, that wonderful institution 
which is spreading its knowledge and beneficence 
among the farmers, and find out what the actual re- 
sults have been during the last decade. They relate 
that the yield of corn per acre all over the country 
has gained on the average more than 7 per cent, and 
wheat over 9 per cent. There are many more items 
but these will illustrate what scientific methods mean. 
You must bear in mind that these figures are for only 

220 



STORY OF AGRICULTURE 



one decade, and that preceding decades showed a pro- 
portionate increase, ever since the close of the Amer- 
ican Civil War when agriculture began to receive the 
attention of scientists. Since that time the bushels 
to an acre of some staples have increased from 30 
to 60. 

**The farmer is about the only inventor who does 
not keep his discoveries for profit to himself alone. 
Owing to this fact the world is able to test its cows' 
milk productivity through Babcock's testing machine; 
is able to grow the navel orange which William Saun- 
ders brought into the country, and the Wealthy apple, 
said to be the best of apple seedlings, which cost Peter 
Gideon, of Minnesota, his last $5 for seeds (even while 
he had to make a coat out of a pair of trousers and a 
vest) ; or the wonderful Minnesota 169 wheat which 
Willet M. Hays created by crossing wheats, when em- 
ployed in the Minnesota experiment station, and which 
to-day has added 15% to the wheat crop in a decade. 
It was Wendelin Grimm who gave alfalfa to America 
after having brought it from his native home in 
Bavaria ten years before the Civil War broke out. 
The Alabaman, James F. Duggar, was the discoverer 
of the modern method of inoculating soils, and he pub- 
lished his conclusions in bulletins which were so well 
distributed throughout the land that there is scarcely 
any modern American farmer who does not under- 
stand how to transfer good soil to poor. The names 
of these benefactors to the farmer and the nation are 
legion. 

**One of the greatest givers is the government it- 
self, through the Department of Agriculture. In a 
recent year its directing official figured up what the 
department had actually accomplished, in dollars and 
cents, for the country. It reached the tremendous 
figure of $231,859,000, counting just those larger items 

221 



WONDER STORIES 



wkich could be estimated, and they ranged through all 
branches of agriculture. 

''It was estimated that for frost, cold wave and 
river-rising warnings, the Weather Bureau saved the 
country $25,000,000. The Bureau of Soils, which 
shows the adaptation of soils to crops, methods of 
handling soils, and studying the alkali problems, 
totaled about $9,000,000. The money spent for the 
destruction of farm pests, coyotes and wolves, and 
other animals which endanger crops, and also for 
encouraging certain birds worth having, is conserva- 
tively estimated by the Bureau of Biology at $3,000,000. 
For introducing the Australian ladybird to eat the San 
Jose scale, not to mention the work on the black scale, 
cotton insects including the boll weevil, and the insects 
which prey on general crops, the Bureau of Entomol- 
ogy claimed $5,000,000. The Bureau of Plant In- 
dustry claimed $29,000,000, mentioning as its largest 
item the introduction of Durum wheat. The largest 
bureau is that of Animal Industry, and it claimed 
over $50,000,000, distributing its claims through tick 
eradication, subduing pleuro-pneumonia, dairy in- 
vestigations, new treatment of milk fever, dipping 
sheep for scabies, inspecting cattle-ships, and inspect- 
ing meat. Then there were the Good Eoads Office, 
which aids in the building of new and repairs old roads 
throughout the rural districts, and the Forest Service 
for maintaining forest reserves, thus preserving stream 
flow and indirectly bringing the rain in needed sea- 



sons." 



i f 



What are the agricultural experiment stations 
I have heard mentioned? " inquired one of the listeners. 
''You might call them the outposts, or scouts, of 
the Agricultural Department," was the answer. 
"There are about sixty in the United States, located 
in every state and territory, and they are units of the 

222 



STORY OF AGRICULTURE 



Agricultural Colleges which you also have heard 
about, no doubt. Michigan claims the honor of first 
establishing an agricultural school, providing for one 
in 1850, making it a part of her second state constitu- 
tion. Seven years later, Justin S. Morrill, the father 
of American Agricultural Colleges, introduced a bill 
to the House of Eepresentatives to endow the Land 
Grant Colleges which Congress had established. 

^^Connecticut claims the first experiment station. 
These are the stations that raised scientific agricul- 
ture from theory to practice. The results of the ex- 
periments are published in bulletins and sent to the 
farmer. They will test the soils submitted and advise 
the farmer the best crops to grow, or how to increase 
the fertility of the soil so as to increase the yield per 
acre. What is true of soil is also true of any part of 
a farm or its products. When a new plant suitable 
for growth in America is found in any distant clime — 
and the Department of Agriculture maintains a large 
corps of expert agriculturists to comb the earth for 
these plants — it is first tried out in experiments and 
if practical the information is sent broadcast. I men- 
tion just one instance to illustrate what this service 
means. A man sends word to the department that 
his land, bordering the overflown banks of the Great 
Lakes, is too wet to grow anything. Back to him comes 
a package of seeds adaptable to his soil, with instruc- 
tions on how to plant and raise them. It is the duty 
of the government to foster agriculture, for the farmer 
after all is the foundation of our civilization. ' ' 



223 



THE STORY OF THE SUGAR GROWER 
OX THE SOUTHERN PLANTATIONS 



'TT^HIS is an age of luxury as well as wonders," 

_£ exclaimed a man in a broad-brimmed hat. 

''Things that only the rich could afford a few 

years ago are now within the reach of even the poorest. 

"'I am a plantation owner," he said. ''I raise 
sugar cane in the South. Do you know that a few 
generations ago sugar was an extravagant luxury? 
Families that had sugar for use on their tables had 
the same claim to affluence that the modern automo- 
bile-owning family has to-day. Much tea was used 
in Colonial America, as we know from the part it 
played in the Eevolution, yet nearly every bit of that 
tea was swallowed unsweetened, except in some rare 
instances among the wealthy, or where maple sugar 
was used. 

"But look on the tables of the American people to- 
day!" exclaimed the sugar planter. ''We Americans 
are now consuming nearly 4,000,000 tons of sugar a 
year. The world's annual output is about 12,000,000 
tons. More than 7,000,000 tons are obtained from 
beets. Few persons realize how the industry has gone 
through an evolution which has made sugar the cheap, 
clean, and commonplace commodity it is to-day. This 
evolution has been brought about by the application 
of modem ideas to the machinery and chemistry in- 
volved in extracting sugar from the plants and in the 
methods of refining the raw product. 

224 



STORY OF SUGAR 



* ^ It is truly a wonder story, ' ' continued the planter. 
**It was centuries ago that the sweet properties of the 
cane were first discovered by the people in India. This 
knowledge was brought to the European, who, when 
he came to the New World, brought both the knowledge 
and the plant with him. It was first introduced in San 
Domingo, in 1503, and from there was carried to the 
other West Indian islands and to the mainland. 

*' Sugar cane is a species of grass that thrives in 
tropical and semi-tropical countries and grows to a 
height of from five to fifteen feet. The cane was first 
cut with hand-knives and carted to mills, where it was 
ground by primitive methods. Animals and even hu- 
man beings were used to do the turning of the stones. 
After the grinding had been carried out, the gummy 
substance which had been squeezed out of the cane was 
strained through cloth and then boiled in open recep- 
tacles. 

'^The first sugar mill to be established in this 
country was that of Etienne de Bore. The cane had 
been introduced in Louisiana, in 1751, by the Jesuits, 
and thrived there fairly well. De Bore's mill was 
erected not long afterward on what is now the site 
of the city of New Orleans. To-day the extraction 
and refining of sugar, as well as the growing of the 
cane, constitute one of the most important industries 
of that part of the South. 

^ ' Nowadays the cutting of the cane is done by ma- 
chines, which leave a stubble after they go over a 
plantation, and this stubble grows until a whole new 
crop develops. The cut stalks are piled in heaps, each 
of which lies on a rope, so that it is only necessary 
to tighten this rope and fasten it to a hoisting ap- 
paratus to place the pile on a wagon or in a railway 
car„ It is thus carried to a mill. 

^'The modern mill contains sets of two, and some- 

225 



WONDER STORIES 



times three, rollers. The heaps of stalks are slid into 
the machinery to pass through the first roller and then 
on to the others. Each roller squeezes juice out of 
the cane, and it is this juice which contains the sugar. 
Even the crushed stalks do not go to waste, for they 
are used as fuel. In recent times a ^shredder' has 
been introduced in mills to slice the stalks before they 
pass into the first roller so that they can be crushed 
more easily. The crushed stalks are now * macerated' 
as they pass between one set of rollers and another; 
that is, they are saturated with hot or cold water so 
that all of the sugar may be pressed out. 

^^ Steam mills came into use in the first half of the 
nineteenth century, a Mr. Coiron being the first man to 
adopt the idea. From that time on, the mills have 
grown in size and effectiveness, so that by 1900 there 
was exhibited at the Paris Exposition a sugar mill 
that was capable of crushing three hundred tons of 
sugar cane a day; but the latest mills can crush 
from nine to twelve hundred tons in twenty-four hours. 
American inventiveness has, of course, helped to make 
this possible. Jeremiah Howard patented a device 
for the regulation of the feeding of the stalks into 
the first roller in 1858. This patent operates so as to 
have both sides of the roller working evenly and also 
prevents foreign substances, such as stray pieces of 
wood or iron, from entering. The primitive open 
receptacles have given way to the modern multiple- 
effect evaporator, an invention of Morberto Relleux, 
who first put it into use at New Orleans, in 1840. He 
discovered the important fact that, the shorter time 
the juice is exposed to heat, the less loss there is of 
sugar. The time required has been cut down by carry- 
ing out this evaporation in vacuum pans, an idea first 
put into practice by Mr. E. C. Howard. 

*^ Before sugar is fit to be placed on our tables, it 

226 



STORY OF SUGAR 



must be refined, and the refining is often done miles 
away from the sugar mills. There are great sugar 
refining factories in and about New York City, and to 
these hundreds of thousands of tons of raw sugar are 
brought yearly from foreign mills as well as those in 
the southern part of our own country. The refining 
of sugar is carried out by various heating processes. 
Bone-black is used to take from the raw material its 
characteristic brown color. 

^^The modern wonder in sugar," exclaimed the 
planter, *^is the passing of the old-time sugar cane 
plantation. Within the last fifty years the world has 
ceased to be dependent entirely on sugar cane for its 
supply of sugar, methods having been devised for ob- 
taining the commodity from the sugar beet. That 
vegetable was first found to have sugar possibilities 
by a German scientist, named MargrafP, in 1747, and 
the first man who was able to extract the sugar in 
reasonable amounts was another German, Karl F. 
Archard, who did so in 1801. 

**But it was an American who finally produced 
sugar from beets, and made it practical for commer- 
cial purposes. His name was David Lee Child. He 
gave it his attention in 1840. The brothers Genert 
set up a beet-sugar mill in Chatsworth, Illinois, in 
1863. There are now more than seventy beet-sugar 
mills in this country. 

^'The extraction of sugar from beets involves a 
method somewhat different from that used in the case 
of cane. The beets are soaked in water, cut into thin 
slices, and put into a battery of twelve or fourteen 
tanks. All this is done by machinery and scarcely 
requires the touch of a human hand. The slices of 
beet are treated to a hot water bath. When the water 
from this bath is drawn off, it carries with it much of 
the sugar that is contained in the slices ; the little that 

227 



WONDER STORIES 



remains in them is obtained by pressing tlie slices with 
machinery. The water holding the sugar is pnt 
through a process of evaporation, concentration, and 
refining, similar to that employed in handling the 
juice from sugar cane. 

*^The nation that consumes the most sugar,'' said 
the speaker, *^is the one with the greatest muscular 
energ}^ We Americans have the reputation of eating 
more candy than any other, and, excepting England, 
are regarded as the greatest consumers of sugar. If 
all the sugar eaten in our country was distributed 
equally it would allow about 83 pounds to each man, 
woman, or child, irrespective of race or color, for a 
year's supply. England puts most of her sugar, said 
to be distributable among her people at the rate of 100 
pounds to each, in making jam. Thus, inasmuch as we 
eat her jams, we also help England to consume her 
sugar. 

^^Have you any idea what a tremendous monument 
of * sweetness' the sugar we consume in a year would 
make if we could pile it together?" inquired the 
Story-teller. 

No one ventured a guess, so the speaker answered 
himself. 

**It would make a pyramid, whose base would be 
about 750 feet square and its crest would overtop the 
Washington Monument by nearly 100 feet. Or it 
would be more than 150 feet higher than the Pyramids 
of Cheops in Egypt. 

**This," remarked the sugar raiser, **is only the 
merest idea of the wonders of the little grains of sugar 
that we drop into our foods to give them the sweet- 
ness that our tastes demand." 



228 



THE STORY OF THE LUMBER MAN 
AND THE GIANTS OF THE FOREST 



A BURLY, red-faced man entered the library and 
sank down heavily in an easy chair. ^^If it 
weren't for ns fellows,'' he said, glancing 
around, ^^ you'd all have to sit on the floor, only there 
wouldn't be any floor to sit on. 

^^I'm a lumber man," he explained. *'I spend my 
life in the forest, cutting down the trees that later 
make their appearance everywhere in a thousand dif- 
ferent forms. I am one of a large body of workers 
who try to satisfy the insatiable demand of the people 
for wood, and yet more wood. Do you know that 
about one-fourth of the whole country is covered by 
forests 1 But at one time they covered more than half 
as much again. They once had a stand of 5,200 bil- 
lion board feet of mercantile timber. But we're cut- 
ting down the trees three times as fast as they grow. 

^*Here are some figures for you. We are taking 
from our forests every year 20 billion cubic feet of 
wood — enough to give 200 feet to every person in the 
country — ^valued at about a million and a quarter dol- 
lars. We use in a single year 90,000,000 cords of fire- 
wood, nearly 45 billion board feet of lumber, 148,- 
500,000 ties, 1,750,000,000 staves, over 125,000,000 sets 
of heading, nearly 300,000,000 barrel hoops, 3,400,000 
cords of native pulp wood, 165,000,000 cubic feet of 
round mine timbers and nearly 1,500,000 cords of 
wood for distillation. 

<<The great drain on our forests made by the re- 

229 



WONDER STORIES 



quirements of various industries, especially paper and 
railroad ties, lias rendered necessary the creation of 
national forest reserves, to the extent of over 85,000,000 
acres, in which measures are taken against fire and 
trespass and for the conservative use of the forests." 

*^Is the loss from forest fires very great!'' asked 
some one. 

"Yes, indeed," replied the lumber man. "Some- 
times $300,000,000 worth of damage has been done in 
the course of one month." 

"Tell us," cried another, "how you set about cut- 
ting down trees." 

"Well," answered the Story-teller, "most of the 
work is done by hand. Two * axemen' cut stepping 
notches in the bark, which is maybe a foot thick, and 
about ten feet from the earth they fasten two spring- 
boards, on which they stand, their huge double-bladed 
axes in hand. It may be a giant fir that they have 
selected, 250 feet high and 30 feet in circumference 
at the bottom, but about seven feet thick at this point. 
By slow degrees, a notch three feet deep is made, and 
then the long, double-handled saw comes into play. 
When the tree is cut through sufficiently, the saw is 
withdrawn, and wedges are placed in the notch. * Watch 
out below!' the men shout. There is noise of creaking 
and rending — and crash falls the tree, striking the 
earth with a hollow roar. 

^ ' The next step is to cut the tree up into logs — say, 
six feet through and thirty-six feet long. A tree such 
as I have described will yield from 15,000 to 18,000 
feet of good lumber, besides shingles, lath, and fire- 
wood, worth from $250 to $400. But some of the 
giants of the forest, such as the redwood tree, which 
range from ten to fifteen feet in diameter, are quar- 
tered by explosions of gunpowder. 

"The logs are then dragged by a donkey-engine 

230 



STORY OF LUMBER 



over a 'skidway,' or pathwa}" of short timbers, until 
the main ^skidroad' is reached, after which they are 
carried to a mountain railroad. They are left at a 
level landing-place, where the logs are loaded on a 
dozen or more cars and so dragged to the saw-mill. 

*'0r they are floated down upon the rivers all the 
way from the forest to the distant mill, near which 
piles are driven into the bed of the river, and a kind 
of pen formed to hold the logs as they arrive. They 
are then drawn from the water by an endless chain, 
raised onto skids by means of a lever, fastened to a 
log carriage and taken to the saw. 

^*We have now arrived at the saw-mill," exclaimed 
the Story-teller — **that great accessory of our civil- 
ization. Without the saw-mill, it is no exaggeration 
to say that our modern life could not go on. Imagine 
our trying to convert by hand the enormous output of 
the forests into the myriad forms in which wood is used 
in every department of human activity! 

^^The first saw-mill in this country was set up, in 
1634, at Piscataqua Falls, in Maine. Soon they began 
to multiply, to meet an ever increasing need, until, in 
1909, there were 40,671 establishments, employing 
nearly 700,000 persons, with a capital of $1,176,675, 
and the production value of over half a billion dol- 
lars. A hundred years ago, there were 2,541 mills, 
dealing with about 93,000,000 feet. 

^^The circular saw employed in these mills is 
driven by engines ranging from 25 to 100 horse-power 
and is capable of sawing from 20,000 to 100,000 super- 
ficial feet per day. It is a disk of steel, with a toothed 
edge, mounted on a shaft which is turned round by 
gear wheels, or by belts operated formerly by the 
shaft of a water wheel, but nowadays by a steam en- 
gine. Band saws are also used, consisting of two 
broad-faced wheels mounted one above the other, over 
16 231 



WONDER STORIES 



which a continuous band of steel, forming the saw, 
works with a continuous motion. The saAV can cut 
from 40,000 to 80,000 superficial feet of lumber per 
day. 

^'When the water power Avas employed for the 
mills, the curious circumstance was noticed, that the 
saws turned out more work by night than by day, 
about in the proportion of ten to nine. Old millmen 
maintain that the ^song' of the mills by night differs 
widely from that heard in the daytime. No satisfac- 
tory explanation has been found for this, though some 
ascribe it to the extra heaviness of the water at night. 

*^A saw-mill is usually built on the banks of a river 
or pond and is quite simple in construction, consisting 
of a saw floor and log deck built about ten feet above 
the level of the water. The arrangement of the saws 
varies according to the size of the timber to be cut. 
In handling logs of great thickness, two saws are 
used; whilst four are required for dealing with the 
giant productions of California. 

**The wood leaves the saw-mill in various forms — 
planks and boards of varying sizes; laths, which are 
thin strips four feet in length; and shingles, used for 
roofing purposes. Where does it all go? Or, rather, 
where does it not go? 

**In 1911, we exported to foreign countries over 
$92,000,000 worth of wood and articles manufactured 
from it. In other words, after providing for our own 
needs, we sent abroad about a dollar's worth for every 
inhabitant of the (continental) United States. Twenty 
years earlier, in 1891, we exported about $28,000,000 
worth ; sixty years earlier, in 1851, the value was only 
a little over four million dollars. 

** Wherever you go, you will find the products of 
the great American forests — in the flagstaffs of Euro- 
pean palaces, in the masts of the royal yachts, in the 

232 



STORY OF LUMBER 



timbering of South African mines, in the ties of Chi- 
nese railroads. Nansen^s famous ship, the Fram, was 
built of Oregon fir, and its stout timbers resisted the 
pressure of ice-floes without opening a seam. This 
wood is in demand by shipbuilders all over the world. 

^*In 1871, three-fourths of the timber now stand- 
ing was publicly owned; now four-fifths of it is pri- 
vately owned. During the intervening period, its 
value has increased ten, twenty, and even fifty-fold, 
according to local conditions. Forest tracts that sold 
for $2.50 an acre a few years ago are now worth from 
$100 to $200 an acre. 

**The lumber business is full of romances of in- 
dustry. Take the case of C. A. Smith, the lumber 
king of the Northwest, who came to the United 
States, in 1852, a poor Swedish boy of fourteen. His 
establishment at Camden Place, Minneapolis, covers 
nearly 100 acres, and he employs over 1,200 people. 
Or the case of Frederick Weyerhaeuser, a penniless 
German boy, who started life in this country as a 
worker in a saw-mill, later made money in Wisconsin, 
and became one of the wealthiest men in the country. 
These are only two typical cases of immense fortunes 
made out of this industry. 

**But the chief wonder associated with lumber is 
the transformation of Nature's woodland gifts, be- 
stowed on us in such lavish profusion, into so many 
and various objects of use and beauty. From the for- 
est to the saw-mill, from the mill to the factory, from 
the factory to a million shops and homes, we trace the 
operations, step by step, of one of the greatest ele- 
ments of our civilization.'' 



233 



THE STORY OF THE RAXCHMAX AXD 
A GLIMPSE IX THE ABATTOIR 



"1^ /TY tale/' said the sliort, fat man, with a beam- 
1 V i i^o face, "is three tales — the tale of the cow, 
the tale of the hog, the tale of the sheep — 
and how they all lose their tails. 

"It is the story of the great ranches and the stock- 
yards and, incidentally, how a continual stampede of 
cattle finds its way to onr dining-room tables. ' ' 

"My story, ^^ explained the ranchman, "is not ex- 
actly a pretty one — it is a story of appetite rather 
than intellect. "We are still a *meat devouring' peo- 
ple. On our great ranches to-day, awaiting the whim 
of onr hunger, are over 60,000,000 head of cattle, 
58,000,000 swine, and 52,000,000 sheep and lambs— 
quite a delicate little luncheon. Their value exceeds 
$2,000,000,000 ; so it is rather an extravagant luncheon 
after all. To drive this 'living dinner' into our din- 
ing-rooms requires more than 1,700 slaughter houses 
and meat packing establishments, employing about 
110,000 men, women, and children. To spread them 
out on platters for our fastidious tastes, costs another 
fortune spent on cooks, waiters, and other accessories 
of modern civilization. 

"The story of man's unappeasable appetite, and 
how it has taxed his inventive genius to create ma- 
chinery and contrivances to feed him, is one of the 
twentieth century miracles. In the old days the 
butcher was not only the man who sold meat over the 
counter, but he was also the man who slaughtered the 

234 



STORY OF THE ABATTOIR 



animals that furnished his meat. Nowadays most 
butchers handle only cuts of meat in retail shops ; the 
killing and preparing is done by machinery in large 
plants called * abattoirs/ a French word denoting 
* killing place.' France was the first country to have 
these modern *meat handling' plants. During the 
reign of Napoleon I, a commission was called together 
to consider the question of ^slaughtering animals for 
food/ with the result that, in 1818, six abattoirs were 
built and put into operation in Paris; these six are 
still in use. 

*^We can all remember the scenes of the old 
slaughter-houses. Hogs, sheep and cattle were driven 
through the streets of cities. They traveled in from 
the country over miles of dusty roads. Arriving at 
their destination, they were driven into the pens ad- 
joining the various slaughter houses and there gave 
up their lives to appease the hunger of the people. 
Things had reached a bad state in towns by the first 
of the nineteenth century. The abattoirs established 
in France proved to be so much better than the other 
methods that the new idea was soon adopted all over 
Europe. In America the adoption came later, for here 
the greater part of the population still lived in the vil- 
lages where meat was provided from day to day in 
small quantities. 

*'It was not until 1860 that the need for abattoirs 
was felt in America. The West had developed into 
the greatest meat-providing region in the whole world, 
and foreign countries were importing our beef. As a 
central market was needed, the abattoirs were located 
in the stockyards in Chicago, and soon became the 
most important, the largest, and the best equipped in 
the world. 

** To-day millions of heads of cattle, hogs, and 
sheep are sent to Chicago alone. They are forwarded 

235 



WONDER STORIES 



in airy cars, they are watered and fed during trans- 
portation, and only the healthier animals are selected 
for slaughter. Chicago stockyards spread over more 
than 500 acres of ground. Huge abattoirs have been 
erected in Kansas City, Omaha, and many other cities, 
until to-day it is one of the great American industries. 

*^I will not describe operations in these abattoirs. 
It is sufficient to say that, if man must eat his fellow- 
animals, they are as humane and painless as in- 
ventive genius can make them. Wonderful machinery 
transforms these animals almost instantly into beef, 
pork, and mutton, which is hurried on refrigerator cars 
to the homes of America and across the seas to the 
peoples of this earth. In large abattoirs 20 to 40 ani- 
mals are handled each minute. The dispatch with 
which this work is done is remarkable. Altogether, 
the squad which performs it numbers as high as 200 
men. A government inspector is included in these, 
and it is his duty to see that no unhealthy meat is 
passed. The handling of hogs is carried out almost 
entirely by machinery. 

^'The whole system is worked at marvelous speed, 
and every care is taken to insure health. Not a single 
part of the body goes to waste. In bovines the hair is 
made up into hair used to 'set' plaster. From the 
bones they prepare glue, bone meal, and phosphate 
fertilizer. The hoofs are used to make buttons, combs, 
and fertilizer. From the shins, buttons, handles, gela- 
tine, glue, and nitrogenous fertilizers are prepared. The 
horns are used to make combs, buttons, ornaments, 
and fertilizers containing potassium and nitrogenous 
compounds. Tallow is prepared from the stomach. 
The hide is converted into leather of varying qualities, 
the hair from certain parts being used in the manu- 
facture of felt. Glue, grease, and fertilizers are also 
obtained from the hides. The bladder, after it has 

236 



STORY OF THE ABATTOIR 



been properly treated, can be used to make receptacles 
for paints, putty, and kindred materials. The gall is 
so prepared as to furnish certain compounds of value 
in medicine, and the blood is converted into foods for 
animals, as well as into fertilizer. The interior fat 
can be used as a basis for manufacturing oleomar- 
garine, and also tallow, oil, soap, glycerine, and grease. 

*^ Inventive genius also finds treasures in the bodies 
of hogs and sheep. The stomachs of hogs, for instance, 
furnish a substance in the producing of pepsin. The 
products of certain glands of both hogs and sheep 
have certain curative powers used in making drugs. 
From big bristles scrubbing-brushes and similar 
coarse brushes are made. Neatsf oot oil, calf -skin, and 
axle grease are among the other various b^^-products 
of abattoirs for which there is a sale. It is thus seen 
that each part of the body of an animal has its use. 

**The higher development of abattoirs has rested 
entirely with America. Countless patented inventions 
have helped to make them what they are, and the 
brains of many men have worked out the problems. 
These large abattoirs have enabled America to outstrip 
all rivals in the amount of meat furnished to the world. 
The United States produced 3,059,000 tons of beef in 
a single year. The nearest rival, Russia, produced 
1,546,000 tons in that year; while the third highest, 
Argentina, produced 985,000 tons in the same period. 
American beef is used all over the world, being ex- 
ported in cold storage or in tin cans. Only American 
ingenuity and inventiveness have made this possible. 
Therefore, whether pleasant or unpleasant, we must at 
least recognize that the abattoir is one of the great 
wonders of the times." 



237 



THE STORY OF THE REFRIGERATOR 
AND THE MAGICAL ICE 



"TTTEiAT invention do you think lias the greatest 
W effect on the cost of living!" 

It was a middle-aged woman, a house- 
keeper, who asked the question, but it was a big, 
brawny, red-faced man who answered it in one word. 
**Ice," he shouted, and there was decision in his voice. 

^^And the refrigerator!" added the woman. ^^ With- 
out these we would hardly know how to live. Take 
them away from us to-morrow, and there would be 
a great scarcity of foods; their cost would double al- 
most instantly, and we would be in danger of famine. 

^^We can never compute the great debt we owe to 
ice," continued the housewife. ^^It is one of the great- 
est benefactors of the human race. With the develop- 
ment of the idea of the refrigerator has come many 
blessings to mankind. The length of the 'season' for 
many foods has been indefinitely extended; the price 
of foods has been held more closely in control ; health 
has been protected. It allows us to indulge in per- 
ishable delicacies from faraway places. It makes it 
possible for us to carry fresh food and cool drink on 
the ocean or across the desert. We may keep milk 
cold; germ diseases may be held in check; danger may 
be averted; and the sick in hospitals need no longer 
gasp for breath on a hot sultry day. As the preserva- 
tion of ice and the manufacture of it are modern in- 
ventions, the question is, how did the world get along 
without it for thousands of years? 

238 



STORY OF THE REFRIGERATOR 

^ ^ When Greece and Rome were in their glory, snow 
was packed in great pits to be preserved through the 
warm months. During the reign of Henry III, in Eng- 
land, in the sixteenth century, the selling of snow and 
ice was a profitable trade. The first ice cut in America 
from frozen ponds and shipped as an article of com- 
mercial value was sent from New York to Charleston, 
South Carolina, in 1799. 

^^The real beginning of the ice industry was in 
1805, when Frederick Tabor, of Boston, shipped a 
cargo of 130 tons to the West Indies at a loss of 
$4,500. His courage did not fail him. He had implicit 
faith in his idea. So he kept persistently at it until, 
in 1812, he secured from Great Britain a monopoly of 
trade with her colonies in the West Indies. This was 
only the beginning. Three years later he secured a 
similar monopoly in Havana from Spain. This was 
extended until the ice trade with southern countries 
became a great and profitable industry. Far-seeing 
men entered into the business. Ice-houses sprang up 
in every part of the country. American ice was in- 
troduced into London and soon found its way into 
nearly every section of the world. Ponds and lakes 
became as valuable as small mines. Inventive genius 
began to devise ways to cut these frozen lakes into 
cakes and sell them to the people. Machinery was in- 
vented to cut and haul it; horses were used to draw 
it ; elevators were installed to lift it into huge storage 
plants. The ice-plow was invented in 1839; many in- 
genious tools were created. Millions of tons, worth 
millions of dollars, were harvested." 

Hesitating here a moment, the Story-teller turned 
to a pitcher on the table and poured out a glass of 
water, in which was floating a small piece of ice. 

^*But the real wonder story began," she exclaimed, 
**when some wizard suggested that there was no good 

239 



WONDER STORIES 



reason for waiting' for the weather to make our ice, 
when we could make it ourselves at any time we needed 
it. So we began to manufacture ice. This had long 
been a dream of the inventors in England and Ger- 
many. The tirst American to secure a patent for an 
ice-making machine was one Jacob Perkins, in 1834. 
Twenty years later Professor A. C. Twining, of New 
Haven, Connecticut, patented an ice machine and put 
it into active operation in Cleveland, Ohio. It produced 
1,600 pounds of ice in twenty-four hours. It seemed as 
though every American inventor now went to work to 
devise some magic scheme for making ice. Nearly 4,500 
patents have been issued in the United States on ice- 
making contrivances, until to-day ice is made by 
steam and electricity. At the beginning of the twen- 
tieth century there were nearly 800 establishments, 
with a capital of over $38,000,000, making ice in this 
country. They were employing over 8,000 workers, 
who were producing $14,000,000 worth of manufactured 
ice every year. 

^^Men are never content with their achievements,'^ 
remarked the narrator. ^^They could not rest until 
they had invented some kind of a contrivance to keep 
ice in every home. So they devised the ice-box or the 
home refrigerator, which was literally placed beside 
the cook stove. This soon became the place of storage 
for all foods until to-day nearly every home in America 
has its refrigerator filled with ice throughout the hot 
summer months. 

*^ Necessity is the mother of invention, and soon 
refrigerators were placed on railroads and steamships. 
Eefrigerator cars were built to carry perishable foods 
across the continents. They were first operated in 
1867 between Chicago and New York to transport meat 
which must be kept fresh and sweet. This has since 
become a great industry in itself. In these modern 

240 



STORY OF THE REFRIGERATOR 

times, when delicate fruit is carried by train across a 
continent and over wide oceans, when great ocean 
steamers have to provide fresh meat and vegetables 
for thousands of people during a long sea voyage, the 
refrigerator has become a prime necessity. The great 
ocean liners not only contain huge refrigerator rooms, 
but manufacture their own ice while on the ocean." 

But the listeners would not let her stop. A half 
dozen voices cried out : * * Tell us how artificial ice is 
made ! ' ' 

^*The modern method is akin to that of freezing 
ice-cream, ' ' replied the housewife. ' ^ The water, which 
later will appear as ice, is boiled, distilled and cleansed 
in a most thorough manner to free it from all impuri- 
ties. Then it is led into rectangular cans which are 
able to hold about 300 pounds. These cans are placed 
in tanks for a freezing bath for about 48 hours. The 
tanks contain a brine solution and are lined with scores 
of pipes through which is flowing liquefied ammonia. 
The cold brine converts this liquid into a gas. This 
evaporation congeals the water into ice. When the 
process is complete, along comes a traveling hoist 
which picks up the can of ice, dips it for an instant into 
a tank of hot water, to loosen the hold of ice on the 
can, and deposits the glistening cake of ice in the 
storage room whose temperature is never higher than 
30 degrees above zero." 

^*I could tell you endless anecdotes," concluded the 
Story-teller, * ' but I think that you will now agree with 
me that ice is one of the modern wonders." 

So saying, she took a long drink of ice-w^ater and 
sat down. 



241 



THE STORY OF THE CANNERIES AND 
THE TASK OF FEEDING THE WORLD 



(( 



"|\ /TY journey has brouglit me across the conti- 



nent,'^ remarked the traveler, as he opened 
his tan leather bag. 

^^I came,'' he said, with a slight drawl to his 
words, *^to tell you the story about this ." 

He withdrew a small, round object, familiar to 
every onlooker. 

*'I know," he laughed, ^Hhat this despised little 
thing is not treated very well by most of us. It is 
knocked about and hammered, and finally has an ig- 
nominious burial on the garbage heap. But when we 
become better acquainted with what it is doing to help 
us live, we may treat it with more respect." 

He exhibited an ordinary, dilapidated tin can. 

*'The story of the tin can," he began, ^4s the story 
of vast orchards, burdened with luscious fruits, saved 
from decay; rich crops and ripening gardens brought 
to our tables; fish from our streams carried to all 
parts of the earth; the products from the dairies car- 
ried into the cities. It is this despised little can that 
has solved one of the world's greatest problems. 

*'The preservation of food has always been a trou- 
blesome problem," said the Story-teller. **It was be- 
cause Europe needed spices that trade routes were 
first opened with the Orient. These spices were used 
for preserving food, especially meats, and were in 
great demand. It was to find a new route to the spice 
market in the Far East, that Columbus sailed on his 

242 



STORY OF THE CANNERIES 



epoch-making voyage in 1492. The discovery of Amer- 
ica was due, to a large extent, to the problem of pre- 
serving food. 

^'It was a Frenchman who first devised a new 
method that was better than even the application of 
spices. Nicholas Appert, in 1810, tried placing food 
in air-tight bottles and jars. His experiments proved 
to be successful. Appert 's invention proved to be 
most important. Napoleon I. bestowed a gift equiva- 
lent to $2,400 upon the inventor, who, after receiving 
it, devoted it to further inventive ideas, only to see it 
lost along with his other wealth. His idea was taken 
to England and there patented. Though Appert 
never received any monetary benefit, it was a profit* 
able thing across the Channel. 

*^But, as in many other things, it was not until 
America began to direct its inventive genius to the 
principle of preserving foods that it became a great 
industry. The first American to experiment with this 
problem was Ezra Daggett. In the year 1825, he was 
putting up lobsters and fish in hermetically sealed jars 
and carrying on quite a trade in conjunction with his 
son-in-law, Thomas Kensett. He found a serious dis- 
advantage in using jars, however. The glass was 
heavy, and broke very easily, entailing heavy losses. 
He and several others began searching about for a 
substitute for glass. Some one — ^no one knows ex- 
actly who — ^hit upon tin, and soon two partners, 
Charles Mitchell and William Underwood, began the 
experiment of putting up foodstuffs in tin jars, which 
were called ^Tin Canisters.' This name was finally 
to be shortened to *tin can.' In England, however, the 
word ^can' was soon dropped, and the English to-day 
speak of * tins' of milk or * tins' of meat. 

*^The tin can has had a very stormy life. In the 
old days it was hand-made. A tinker first had to take 

243 



WONDER STORIES 



a large piece of sheet tin ; on this he drew out the size 
and shape he needed to make a can. Then with a pair 
of shears he cut this portion out. Then he curved it 
till it formed a hollow cylinder. He kept it in that 
form by laboriously soldering the edges together. It 
was then necessary to design a bottom. This was cut 
from sheet tin and soldered on. The food was placed 
in the can; then the top was fashioned and fastened 
in the same way. A good tinker by working hard 
could turn out probably fifty of those cans in a day. 

** American inventive genius came to the rescue. 
Allen Taylor, who was then a partner of Thomas Ken- 
sett, invented, in 1847, a machine which would turn 
out finished tin cans. This was the real beginning of 
the little receptacle that has since played a great part 
in the story of progress. The canning industry now 
moved along at a trot, but was soon to travel at a gal- 
lop. Jellies, fruits, and vegetables soon began to find 
their way into cans, whereas only fish, lobsters and 
meats had been canned previously. With the great 
rush of people to the newly discovered gold deposits 
in California, there was an enormous demand for 
canned food. The new products formed the basis of 
Dr. Kane's Arctic exploration during the same year. 
From that date all such expeditions were supplied 
with canned food, and it is no overstatement to assert 
that the ^tin can' really made possible the discovery of 
both the North and South poles. 

**The *tin can' helped fight the American Civil 
War. Military authorities were quick to appreciate 
the value of supplying troops with food in such con- 
venient form. The Franco-Prussian War, in 1870-71, 
also depended largely on canned food. By that time 
almost every kind of food was being canned. The can- 
ning of milk was first tried by Gail Borden, just pre- 
vious to the Civil War. This he did by condensing the 

244 



STORY OF THE CANNERIES 



milk and mixing it with sugar first. When many 
awoke on a March morning in 1888, and found them- 
selves snowed under by the now memorable * Great 
Blizzard,' they discovered that all milk trains and 
w^agons were stalled by snow drifts. A rush was made 
to grocery stores for condensed milk, and this strange 
circumstance was what really first awakened the 
housewives to the advantages of canned foods. Hence- 
forth, they were to be used in homes, as well as in 
armies and on shipboard. By the early nineties, 
canned goods had ceased to be novelties and had as- 
sumed the dignity of being necessities. 

^'The Calif ornians were among the first to see the 
economic value of the Hin can.' They began to plant 
vast orchards on which were raised tons of oranges, 
grapes, cherries, peaches, apricots and olives. These 
edibles must be placed in the hands of consumers in 
the East before they began to perish. And how were 
they to be sent in good condition to Europe? The *tin 
can' solved the problem, and Calif ornian fruits began 
to find their way into every part of the world, where 
they were enjoyed months and years after leaving 
their ranches. No longer is money lost by having the 
surplus of the crops decay. The meat packers, too, 
met a similar problem by using the can. 

' ^ The output of canned food in America has grown 
to such proportions that to-day one finds American tin 
cans in the wildest and most remote parts of the 
world. The American tin can is said to be one of the 
first things discovered by exploring parties breaking 
through regions where man has never before set foot. 
Be that as it may, it is nevertheless true that the trails 
of these exploring parties consist principally of a 
wake of tin cans. 

*^ There are more than $50,000,000 invested in can- 
neries throughout the United States. An output 

245 



WONDER STORIES 



worth more than $85,000,000 is being produced an- 
nually. Not only fruits, vegetables, fish, meats and 
milk are canned nowadays, but also soups, extracts, 
butter, lard, tobacco and all other commodities which 
spoil if exposed for long periods to air or dampness. 
Thousands of persons are employed in the industry. 

^'The tin can is now to be found on Greenland's 
icy mountains, on India's coral strand, in the new 
towns of Alaska, in the old towns of Asia, in the Afri- 
can jungles and the Australian deserts — wherever you 
find the American flag to-day, there you will find the 
tin can — one of the world's greatest benefactors." 

*^^\niat does it cost us to feed the world?" asked 
one of the gathering. 

'^That is an almost impossible question to answer," 
replied the narrator. *^The quantity consumed and 
the price paid for that quantity differs in different 
parts of our country as well as in different parts of the 
world. However, I can give you some figures in rela- 
tion to what we Americans pay for food, and from 
those you can draw your own conclusions as to the rest 
of 1,500,000,000 people scattered over the world." 

Opening a book that lay on the table, the narrator 
began to figure with pencil and paper. 

<<The government statisticians tell us," he said, 
**that the average American working-man's family 
pays about $374.75 each year for his food, and also 
that this average family consists of 4.7 persons. Thus 
we find that each individual's share of the cost is about 
$80 a year, or 22c a day. Figuring on that basis, then 
we discover, theoretically, of course, that the 100,- 
000,000 Americans pay about $780,000,000 a year for 
their food, or about $22,000,000 a day. This rate per 
person if applied to the peoples of the world would 
mean that it cost the tremendous sum of $128,000,- 
000,000 a year to keep us alive." 

246 




A MODERN MIRACLE WORKER AMONG THE FJLOWERS HE- 
CREATED 

Visit to the gardens of Luther Burbank, the wizard who makes fruits and 

grains according to his own desires. He changes the color and 

shape of plants ; he takes the thorns from the cactus, the 

seeds from berries, and creates new vegetables 

to please new tastes. — See page 253. 



THE STORY OF THE FISHERMAN AND 
HIS WONDERFUL FISHERIES 



THE man in tlie yellow oiled coat looked rather 
out of place among the Story-tellers. There 
was the scent of the sea about him. 

*^ Suppose," he began, ^Hhat you should see a pro- 
cession of huge wagons, each drawn by four horses, 
coming toward you. Suppose you were told that this 
procession was over 3,000 miles long and reached 
across the continent. Suppose you were told that — ." 

^'What is this," interrupted one of the listeners, 
*'a fish story?" 

*^That is just what it is," replied the man in the 
yellow coat, ^'it is a fish story — and every word of it 
is true. It would require this procession of wagons 
to hold the *fish catch' for a single season in the United 
States." 

*^When we talk about fishing," said he, **we gen- 
erally think of a day^s outing rod and line along 
some running stream. Now, as a matter of fact, fish- 
ing is one of the world's greatest industries. If all 
other food supplies failed, we could still live on fish- 
ing. It may be difficult for you to believe it, but the 
value of the fish taken from the seas, lakes, and rivers 
of the earth last year was about equal to the value 
of the gold taken from all the world's mines, or nearly 
$500,000,000." 

**It is, indeed, a fish story!" ejaculated one of the 
hearers. 

*^ Wait a moment," exclaimed the fisherman, **I 
17 247 



WONDER STORIES 



have not yet begun. Suppose you were to see a pro- 
cession of over 60,000,000 pounds of crabs crawling 
into our American cities ; beMnd them are coming over 
16,000,000 pounds of lobsters; and behind them about 
4,000,000 eels— what would you think?'' 

The library was now resounding with laughter. 

* ^ Give us a good one ! ' ' shouted one of the Story- 
tellers.'' 

^'All right," replied the fisherman. ** Suppose we 
were all to go to a church sociable and find two billion, 
three hundred and thirty-three million, nine hundred 
thousand oysters in the stew!" 

**The prize medal is yours!" called out a half 
dozen voices. **Our hats off to the fisherman!" 

**My friends," he remarked, when the laughter had 
subsided, ^^ every figure I have mentioned is exact. I 
have only told you the numbers of crabs, lobsters, eels, 
and oysters caught in the waters of the United States 
in a single year. Our country produces more fish than 
any other nation in the world. The annual catch here 
is valued at more than $70,000,000. It gives employ- 
ment to 215,000 persons, while 800,000 more are de- 
pendent on it for a living. Other food supplies may 
fail us but our supply of seafood seems to be assured. 

** Moreover," continued the fisherman, ** fishing is 
not only a huge industry, but it has come to be a great 
science. It is known as pisciculture — the science of 
breeding fish for food purposes. From the earliest 
times there have been but three ways of securing 
fish — catching them with hook and line, trapping them 
near shore, and getting them with nets. To-day we 
fish with horses and steam-engines on a stupendous 
scale. We have 'trawl lines' — to which are attached 
from ^ve thousand to fifteen thousand hooked lines. 
The main line is fitted with both floats and sinkers so 
that parts of it are deep down in the water while 

248 



STORY OF THE FISHERIES 



other parts are nearer the surface. One of these trawls 
can be spread over several miles and catches fish at 
all depths. Steam has been applied to fishing, as it 
has to every other industry, and now from our shores 
go hundreds of * steam travelers' which are able to 
drag these gigantic lines and nets over miles of water. 

**So thoroughly have these inventions done their 
work that, as early as 1870, there arose the danger 
that the fish of the sea would soon be exhausted. Con- 
gress was asked to do what it could to conserve the 
general stock of sea fish. From all over the country 
came reports that streams which had been plentifully 
provided with fish were entirely depleted. As a re- 
sult, a Fish Commission was appointed, in 1891. 

*^The experts discovered that the situation was 
extremely critical," remarked the fisherman. ^^They 
found that we are a fish-eating people; that our fish- 
ermen had entered so enthusiastically into their work 
that but one thing remained to be done — ^we must enter 
immediately into pisciculture. 

*'So we did!" he added. *'We began to raise fish 
as we do cattle or corn. We went into the business 
of fish culture; that is, the breeding of fish. This 
branch of science had been discovered as far back as 
1763, when Stephen Jacobi, an army officer in West- 
phalia, discovered that fish could be artificially prop- 
agated. The first official recognition that the science 
of pisciculture received was when a government sta- 
tion was established in Alsace, in 1850. But it was 
with its introduction into America that it was first 
put on a practical footing and was developed, until 
the United States became the unrivaled master of it. 
To-day foreign nations frankly admit our supremacy. 

^^Fish culture is a wonderful process. It is one 
of the modern miracles. It not only breeds fish, but 
transfers them from their native to foreign waters. 

249 



WONDER STORIES 



The first accomplishment, breeding, is brought about 
by mixing roe and the milt taken from male fishes. The 
mixture is placed in receptacles and treated just as it 
would be in the natural course of events. The water 
is supplied at a temperature necessary for the hatch- 
ing of the eggs, and it is composed of the ingredients 
they require. This same care is exerted when the 
fry is hatched and continues to be applied till the fish 
are old and strong enough to take care of them- 
selves. As they grow to be ^fingerlings,' then * year- 
lings,' and finally adults, they are transferred from 
tank to tank, supplied with fresh or salt water, ac- 
cording to their natural habitat, and are given the 
food they need. 

*^The transferring of fish from one sea to another 
is an interesting event. It is done while they are 
young or still in the egg. In the former stage they are 
placed in railway cars or on boats which are equipped 
with tanks containing running water at given tem- 
peratures. The Fish Commission has four railway 
cars thus fitted up and also has two steamboats, the 

* Albatross' and the ^Fish Hawk,' as well as the 

* Grampus,' a schooner employed in this work. Fish 
eggs are shipped in square boxes. A layer of moss is 
placed on the bottom. Above this comes mosquito net- 
ting and eggs in turn, and the layers are so piled 
till the box is filled. 

^* Wonders have been done with fish culture. Now 
for the first time in his history, man is breeding marine 
animals as well as land animals. It has been extended 
to the treatment of lobsters and oysters. Shad, which 
were native only to eastern waters, were brought to 
Sacramento Eiver; they throve and spread until the 
whole Pacific Coast, from the mouth of the Sacra- 
mento to Alaska, has become stocked with this fish. 
Trout, that were native to America, have been *trans- 

250 



STORY OF THE FISHERIES 



planted' successfully into Japanese waters. Salt water 
smelts have been used to stock fresh water ponds 
and lakes. Black bass have been shipped to Europe, 
there to become acclimated and to thrive. Pickerel 
have been brought to New Hampshire ponds, which 
had never contained the species. Eastern waters have 
been tilled with striped bass brought from the west. 

*^The breeding of fish has met with miraculous suc- 
cess. Cod have been ^planted' by the fish culturists 
until there is an abundance of them. There are thirty- 
four hatcheries located in different parts of the coun- 
try to facilitate this work. More than 1,000,000,000 
eggs are ^planted' in the United States each year. The 
science of pisciculture is one of the most fascinating, 
most wonderful, and most useful known to man. And 
the United States Fish Commission has been chiefly 
responsible for it. Its importance may be understood 
when one considers that, for less than $250, trout to 
the number of 1,000,000 may be raised from the egg, 

*^I will close my fish story," said the fisherman, 
^^by giving you some more interesting figures. The 
largest * catch' of fish in the last report to the gov- 
ernment, is that of menhaden, a species of herring — 
394,776,000 pounds were taken from our waters in a 
single year; the ordinary herring came second with 
125,050,000 pounds; then came cod with 110,053,000; 
salmon with 90,418,000 ; alewives with 89,978,000 ; had- 
dock, 59,988.000. There were 27,641,000 pounds of 
shad; 15,247,000 pike perch, 12,103,000 mackerel; 
12,024,000 trout; 7,646,000 bluefish; 3,313,000 black 
bass. Think of trying to do this with the old-time 
method of the solitary fisherman and a rod and line! 
Modern fishing is done by machinery — it is both a 
great science and a great industry.'' 



251 



THE STORY OF THE MODERN WIZARD 

WHO CREATES FRUITS AND 

FLOWERS 



" T N my story, I am going to take you to a veritable 
J_ land of enchantment. We shall see familiar 
fruits and flowers change under the hand of a 
modern magician. Poor, stunted fruits will grow 
large and luscious before our eyes. Despised weeds 
are transformed into lovely flowers ; useless plants be- 
come nourishing food for man and beast; scentless 
flowers acquire sweet odors ; colors are changed ; trees 
shoot up with unwonted speed; varieties of fruits 
are multiplied indefinitely, as if by a magic wand." 

It was a horticulturist who spoke, a man who had 
come to the Story-tellers club direct from the new 
*^ Garden of Eden," to tell them of its wonders. 

^ ' Is this a fairy tale 1 ' ' inquired the school teacher, 
incredulously. 

^*It is more wonderful than any fairy story ever 
conceived by the imaginations of men," replied the 
horticulturist, *^ because every word of it is true. It is 
a record of sober fact. You may go to this land of 
enchantment and greet the wizard face to face. I will 
tell you where to find him. 

**0n the western coast of the United States, in 
that land of the Sunset, which we call California, there 
is a little village hidden away in banks of roses, not 
far from the edge of the giant rosewood forests. The 
village is called Santa Rosa. In this village there 
lives a man, a strange, wonderful man, who, at the 

252 



STORY OF HORTICULTURE 



time of this story, is sixty-four years of age. He was 
born on the other side of the continent, in Massachu- 
setts, in 1849, of English-Scotch ancestry. As a boy, 
he attended the common schools and local academy, 
and then went to work in a plow factory. This life, 
however, did not interest him, and he decided to be a 
market-gardener. This decision gave to the world a 
new genius, a youth, who, not satisfied with fruits 
and vegetables and flowers that grew in his garden, 
decided to force Nature to change them to meet his 
demands. Thus it is that Luther Burbank, the Amer- 
ican scientist, is performing miracles that would have 
caused him to be burned for witchcraft not many gen- 
erations ago. 

**The first of Burbank's miracles," exclaimed the 
Story-teller, *Hook place when he was twenty-six 
years old. He then created a new potato, different in 
shape, size, and taste than any ever before seen. Two 
years later, in 1875, he moved to California and set- 
tled amid the grape vineyards and fruit orchards of 
Santa Eosa. Here he started his experimental farms 
that have become a veritable wonderland — a haunt of 
botanical romance. The workshop was worthy of the 
workman. The volcanic qualities of the soil, and the 
genial but not excessive warmth of the climate, render 
it an ideal place for the wizard of a new * kingdom of 
flowers.' 

*^As soon as you approach his house, you are con- 
fronted with evidences of his wonderful powers. 
There is a row of tall trees bordering the street and 
casting a grateful shade. What are they? Walnut 
trees? Yes, but you never saw their like before. They 
are Paradox walnuts, so called by their producer, and 
were obtained by crossing an English with a Cali- 
fornia walnut. But they are different from either 
parent. They grow faster than any other tree in the 

253 



WONDER STORIES 



temperate zone. And their wood is hard, firm, and 
beautifully colored, fulfilling all the needs of the cabi- 
netmaker. 

**Did it ever strike you that the shells of the wal- 
nut might with advantage be thinner and easier to 
break? Burbank thought of this and determined to 
do it. By careful selection, he planted the nuts with 
the thinnest shells, and eventually obtained the requi- 
site thinness of shell. The first to profit by this ex- 
periment were the birds and squirrels ; so he patiently 
reversed his process. He literally made the walnut 
over again. He took the tannin out of it and so im- 
proved its flavor. Then, he increased the output of the 
trees, so that they give an annual crop of 400 pounds. 
He turned his attention to the chestnut tree. It had 
been taking it from 10 to 15 years to arrive at ma- 
turity. Burbank forced it to bear fruit 18 months 
after it is planted. 

*^But it was when this discoverer of a new science 
turned to the re-making of the * fruit kingdom' that 
its marvelous possibilities were demonstrated. He 
called into being new fruits for the use of man. He 
gave the old fruits increased size and improved flavor. 
He created a stoneless plum, and many other strange 
things he did with this fruit. Think of a tree from 
which it was necessary to strip 22,000 plums, in order 
that it might not overbear! Think of the bitter wild 
beach-plum changed out of all resemblance to its for- 
mer self into a sweet fruit, with branches three and a 
half feet long! 

^^Then he began to * invent' new fruits. He liter- 
ally 'married' the plum to the apricot and gave birth 
to the *plumcot,' with a delicious flavor of its own. 
If you do not care for this. Dr. Burbank will give you 
a plum that tastes exactly like a pear, or another that 
smells like a nosegay. The apple orchard was trans- 

254 



STORY OF HORTICULTURE 



formed by the new magic. He has trees growing as 
many as 400 different varieties. He can show you 36 
apples, which all grew from the seed of one apple, 
and no two of which are alike. The cherry changed 
its flavor under the direction of the scientist; the 
prune, the strawberry, the raspberry — whatever fruit 
falls under his spell becomes changed. He is the first 
man to produce an absolutely new species of fruit; 
this is the primus berry, which was produced by cross- 
ing the native Calif ornian dewberry with the Siberian 
raspberry. The new fruit is quite unlike either parent 
in form, color, and taste, 

*^But the greatest achievement of all," exclaimed 
the horticulturist, *^was the re-creation of the cac- 
tus — in which it was robbed of its thorns. Where all 
other vegetation had deserted the soil, there the cac- 
tus flourished, armed with formidable spikes, and its 
leaves filled with spicules. Burbank took the cactus 
in hand. Not only did it lose its thorns, but it became 
a succulent and nutritious plant, excellent as forage 
for cattle and bearing a delicious fruit for human con- 
sumption. It is dijBficult to estimate what this discov- 
ery means. The new cactus grows in desert regions 
as freely as the wild variety. Not only cattle, sheep, 
and horses, but hogs, chickens, and geese thrive on it. 

^^It is estimated that by means of this new cactus 
the deserts of the earth could be peopled, and the 
present population of the world doubled. Already 
some plantations are producing from 120 to ,140 tons 
of spineless cactus, enough to keep four cows per acre 
for a year. And it is found that the milk supply of 
cows so fed is very largely increased. Further, this 
wonderful plant has liquid properties, so that animals 
fed on it require little or no water. 

**The spineless cactus will reclaim millions of 
acres of desert waste. It will add untold millions to 

255 



WONDER STORIES 



the wealth of the country. And it has benefited not 
only this country; communications from all over the 
world have been received regarding it. Far-off India 
is looking for it to banish its age-long curse of famine. 

^^Many interesting anecdotes might be told about 
this wizard in the flower gardens,'^ said the Story- 
teller. ^^He is particular about perfumes. He did 
not like the acrid smell of the dahlia, so he made it 
breathe the fragrance of the magnolia. One day, he 
detected a faint odor from a bed of scentless verbenas, 
but could not locate it. A year later, he found the 
plant that gave forth the smell and carefully planted 
its seeds. Each year such as retained the odor were 
chosen, and in time the verbenas acquired a rich fra- 
grance, resembling that of the arbutus but double its 
strength. Burbank has not yet made a blue rose — he 
says that he has not had time — but he has a blue 
poppy. Who would recognize in the gorgeous Shasta 
daisy, with a blossom from ^ve to seven inches in 
diameter, the humble and despised field daisy? The 
wonder-worker pitied the little flower and raised it to 
its present high estate. He has wrought similar 
changes with many wild flowers. 

^ ^ The day may come when the milliner will be able 
to deck her creations with real flowers. Our wizard 
already has evolved a flower that keeps fresh and fra- 
grant, when plucked, for an indefinite period. This 
floral marvel was once a worthless weed of the Aus- 
tralian bush, and it now bears the name of the Aus- 
tralian Star. He has turned his magic limelight on 
the waving pampas-grass, with its decorative plumes, 
and changed its hues from white to pink. 

^*But the wonders of the new science have only be- 
gun. Dr. Burbank has calculated the result of the 
creation of new corn, wheat, barley, and oats, which 
would produce one grain more to each ear. It would 

256 



STORY OF HORTICULTURE 



mean an annual gain, without effort or cost, to the 
country, of 5,200,000 bushels of corn, 15,000,000 
bushels of wheat, 1,500,000 bushels of barley, and 20,- 
000,000 bushels of oats. Or, if one additional potato 
were grown on one plant, we should have 21,000,000 
extra bushels of potatoes. As a matter of fact, the 
Burbank potato has added $20,000,000 to the wealth 
of the UTnited States. And the scientist is actually 
doing far more than he postulates. He is now grow- 
ing corn 16 feet high, instead of the ordinary height 
of about 8 feet; he is producing 32 ears to the stalk, 
instead of the ordinary average of barely two. 

** Wonder upon wonder," said the Story-teller, 
** bursts forth under the magic hands of the improver 
of plants,' as Dr. Burbank modestly prefers to be 
called. He produced, for instance, an * aerial potato' 
which, finding itself in strange environment, sought to 
hide beneath the plant's broad leaves. 

*'How was that possible? Simply by grafting a 
Burbank potato on a ponderosa tomato plant. The 
result is his famous *pomato,' which grows above the 
ground in all shapes, sizes and colors. He combined 
the peach, apricot and almond — and produced a lus- 
cious fruit inclosing an edible nut in place of the ordi- 
nary peach pit. He created the white blackberry, and 
then crossed it with a raspberry and evolved the 
^paradox berry,' an oval, light red fruit of superior 
quality. 

*^I wish I had time," exclaimed the horticulturist, 
**to tell you about all the marvels he has created 
among the flowers. I will mention a few. There is 
the virgin white Watsonia which bears not the slight- 
est tinge of any other shade and is the purest white in 
Nature. Roses have been increased in size, color and 
fragrance; an entirely new color has been brought 
forth in the wild California poppy ; the .gladiolus has 

257 



WONDER STORffiS 



been taught entirely new habits, flowering around the 
entire stalk like a hyacinth instead of in its old habit 
of growing on one side of the steam; the amaryllis 
has been brought up from a blossom of two or three 
inches to nearly a foot in diameter, while thousands of 
foreign and tropical flowers have been domesticated 
and brought to perfection, growing in profusion in 
gardens of the temperate regions. 

*'But how have all these wonderful results been 
achieved? By forty years of patient, scientific study 
and experiment. They are the result of indefatigable 
labor. Dr. Burbank's material embraces an average 
of a million new plants a year. He may use from half 
a million to a million plants for a single test, and per- 
haps reject them all, except two or three. He allows 
none to survive unless they approve themselves to his 
severe and practiced judgment. Incidentally, it may 
be mentioned that he has spent a quarter of a million 
dollars of his own money on these experiments. 

*^The future holds great things in store for us," 
said the horticulturist, in ending his story. '^But the 
greatest of all, it seems to me, is this wonderful dis- 
covery in plant organism which allows us to create 
new plants and foods at will. It may ultimately 
change the appearance of the face of the earth." 



258 



THE STORY OF THE BIOLOGIST WHO 
DISCOVERED THE SECRET OF LIFE 



"T^ 4rY good friends," said the tall, slender man, 

IVjL with professional address, as he scanned the 

faces of the Story-tellers, **is there a man or 

woman among us who honestly desires to grow oldf 

He waited for an answer — ^but only silence greeted 
the strange query. 

** Beautiful as is old age, when accompanied by its 
richness of memory and crowned with years filled with 
good deeds, it is seldom that we meet any one who 
really likes to grow old after he has reached middle 
age. From the earliest times, poets have sung lamen- 
tations over departing youth and approaching old 
age, and men have caught eagerly at anything that 
suggested escape from the inevitable. 

*^I am a biologist,'' he explained. ^^ Naturally we 
are much interested in this problem of old age. What 
is life? Why does the human machine wear out, no 
matter how carefully it is handled? Must it follow 
the apparently universal rule of growth, maturity — 
then decay and death? Is there no way of postponing 
the inevitable end?'' 

The speaker contemplated the effect of his ques- 
tions. 

**My answer is this," he continued; ^4f there is a 
secret way to prolong human life, we will find it ! At 
this moment hundreds of skilled men are working in 
their laboratories over the miraculous processes of 

259 



WONDER STORIES 



life. But it is of only one of them that I can tell you 
in this story. 

^^In a Somber building on the upper East Side in 
the city of New York, can be found a man just en- 
tering middle life. His dark complexion tells of his 
Old World ancestry, and he speaks with a foreign 
accent. It was this man, an American by adoption, 
who brought to America, for the first time, the great 
Nobel Prize for medical research, in 1912. To this 
distinguished biologist. Dr. Alexis Carrel, whose skil- 
ful experiments in the Rockefeller Institute for Medi- 
cal Research have given our country a foremost posi- 
tion in the scientific world, every American should 
feel indebted. 

^^Let us make his acquaintance. He was born at 
Sainte Foy les Lyon, France, on the 28th of June, in 
1873. He was graduated in medicine at the Univer- 
sity of Lyons. At the age of 32, in 1905, he took up 
his residence in the United States, and has become a 
member of various learned bodies in this country. It 
was at the Rockefeller Institute that his great work 
really began, when he undertook to solve the problem 
of senile decay or old age — which simply means the 
wearing out of the tissues that form the real sub- 
stance of the bodily organs. 

^^One day, not long ago, this young biologist as- 
tounded medical science by taking the living tissues 
from the body of an animal, and making them live 
outside. Not only live — but grow. Moreover, this 
growth he can regulate, increasing or decreasing it, 
or stopping it altogether. In his laboratory, I have 
seen tissues that have been living in glass jars and 
test-tubes for more than 16 months. He can, by means 
of a certain process, make them grow more rapidly 
than tissues that have just been removed. If this 
were applied in surgical practice, by the way, wounds 

260 



STORY OF HUMAN LIFE 



and other injuries would heal in about a tenth of the 
time that they usually take. 

**It is a wonderful discovery, this artificial culti- 
vation of tissue. The biologist takes from a chicken, 
or cat, or dog, small pieces of heart, kidney, liver, 
skin, or bone. He then feeds them with a minute 
quantity of blood plasma and places them in an incu- 
bator heated to the temperature of the body from 
which they have been taken. 

**What happens? Up to a very short time ago, the 
answer of everybody, from the most learned biologist 
to the most ignorant peasant, would have been: ^Well, 
of course, these pieces wither and die.' But wait a 
while ; let us watch them. In a few hours you will see 
something. A kind of bluish haze begins to surround 
some of the specimens, and a granulation appears at 
the edges and surfaces. Then new cells begin to take 
form. We see life in the making — and a great deal of 
it we can see without the aid of the microscope. These 
tiny pieces of animal structure are multiplying after 
their kind; heart is producing new heart; kidney is 
growing kidney ; and so on. And this process is going 
on much the same as in a living body, the rapidity of 
growth varying with the age of the animal from which 
the tissue has been taken. 

**Very remarkable have been the experiments with 
the heart. There is something uncanny in the sight 
of a chicken's heart beating on a microscope slide — 
or rather, two fragments of heart, the smaller one 
beating at the rate of 120 pulsations a minute, and the 
larger at the rate of 92. This went on for three days, 
after which the pulsations diminished. Dr. Carrel 
treated the two pieces, and soon had them beating 
more furiously than ever. In the end, they united and 
literally *beat as one.' " 

*^Can he make an animal live after it is dead?" 

261 



WONDER STORIES 



interrupted the physiologist, who was listening in- 
tently. 

^^That is quite a novel question," laughed the biol- 
ogist. ^^It sounds somewhat contradictory, but Dr. 
Carrel seems to have answered it affirmatively. At 
least, he kept a cat alive in sections after it was dead 
as a whole. He took its various organs, put them into 
his incubator, and applied artificial respiration." 

'^What did he see?" 

^^He saw life going on just as if the animal were 
alive. The heart was beating regularly, the stomach 
was digesting, the intestines and kidneys were work- 
ing. This astonishing performance continued for ten 
hours. 

**It was shortly after this that Dr. Carrel as- 
tounded the medical scientists by declaring that 4f it 
were possible to transplant immediately after death 
the tissues or organs which compose the body into an- 
other identical organism, no elemental death would 
occur, and all the constituent parts of the body would 
continue to live.' " 

**Does that mean that some day there will be no 
death?" asked a perplexed woman. 

* ^ It means that the human body may be kept alive 
and youthful much longer than is the case to-day. 
The various organs can be kept alive, and able to ex- 
ercise their functions, if provided with the necessary 
food and heat, for a very long period. Not long ago, 
a Parisian surgeon was called to operate on a man 
whose eye had been injured by quicklime. A few weeks 
before, he had cut out the eye of another patient, who 
was suffering from glaucoma. This eye he carefully pre- 
served, treated with a special solution, and placed in 
an ice-chest. The second patient is now able to see 
through a portion of this eye, grafted onto his own. 

**The science of life is being solved," exclaimed 

262 



STORY OF HUMAN LIFE 



the biologist. '^Dr. Carrel has revolutionized the sur- 
gery of the blood-vessels. By his discoveries he has 
enabled the surgeon to treat the internal organs with 
almost as much freedom as is exercised in handling 
the external skin. And, further, he has shown that 
organs can be translated from one body to another. 
He recently removed a kidney from one cat to another. 
and the organ began to perform its functions even 
before the whole of the operation had been concluded. 
Already these experiments have been extended to hu- 
man beings. A few months ago, a man had his main 
artery and jugular vein interchanged to advantage. 
Another man had an injured knee-joint replaced by 
one from a dead person. There is no end to the possi- 
bilities suggested by operations of this kind. 

**One day, not long ago, Dr. Carrel performed a 
miracle. At least, he performed an act that must be 
regarded as the greatest of miracles. In other words, 
he seemed to raise the dead. He washed the defunct 
tissue of a dead person and fed it with a special kind 
of elixir, called * embryonic juice.' It revived into 
vigorous life ; but, after a time, it got very sick again. 
It was cured, but the cure was by no means perma- 
nent. One tissue in Dr. CarrePs laboratory has been 
snatched from the jaws of death 95 times. 

**The problem of old age is near its solution. The 
three great questions will soon be answered: What is 
death? Why do we die? Need we die at all? It is 
now generally accepted by scientists that death is the 
result of * cellular suicide.' In other words, the cells 
of the body create certain substances that ultimately 
destroy them. What these substances are, or may be, 
no one yet knows. We live in an age of wonders. The 
superstition of one age may become the scientific ac- 
complishment of another. We live to learn!" 



18 



263 



THE STORY OF THE PHYSIOLOGIST 
AND THE MIRACLE OF MAN 



AN old man, whose deep-set eyes, nearly hidden 
by gold-rimmed spectacles, and drawn face be- 
spoke a life devoted to scientific research, ad- 
vanced slowly to the table. 

**If, as the poet says," he began, in low, measured 
accents, *^ Hhe proper study of mankind is man,' then 
I have been engaged during a long life in a study 
eminently proper to our species. '* 

Various inaudible guesses were made as to the pro- 
fession of the speaker, who continued : * * I am a physi- 
ologist, or in other words, a student of the human 
body. It is the researches of such men that have re- 
vealed that exact knowledge of every portion of the 
human frame which has rendered possible the intelli- 
gent treatment of disease and injury. We may there- 
fore claim some share in the progress of human en- 
lightenment and in the amelioration of human suffer- 
ing. ' ' 

Subdued applause greeted this statement, and the 
physiologist resumed: *^It was said of old that *we are 
fearfully and wonderfully made'; and, indeed, the 
human body is the most wonderful piece of Nature's 
handiwork. But we do not fully appreciate the per- 
fection of the human mechanism until we take it to 
pieces, and then, as it were, build it up again. This 
anatomical process, so essential to the science of physi- 
ology, was not always practicable, on account of the 

264 



STORY OF THE HUMAN BODY 

excessive reverence for dead bodies which prevailed 
in ancient, and, to some extent, in mediaeval times. '^ 

*^ Could you tell us, sir, when human dissection 
was first practiced?^' asked the doctor. 

^^In the third century before Christ," replied the 
Story-teller, *^at the Alexandrian School, then the in- 
tellectual and scientific center of the world. Con- 
siderable advance was made in anatomical science, 
although some of the views propounded at that time 
sound curious to us. Dissection was practiced in many 
of the mediaeval universities, and the famous Frederick 
Barbarossa, German Emperor in 1215, ordered that 
no one should practice surgery without a practical 
knowledge of anatomy. But the prejudice against dis- 
section still lingered in some quarters, and in the six- 
teenth century Vesalius, who may be called the father 
of modern physiology, was denounced as an impious 
madman. He was, however, vindicated by the Uni- 
versity of Salamanca, which solemnly pronounced dis- 
section to be lawful. The invention of the microscope 
shortly afterward made possible the achievements of 
modern physiological science. 

^'What is a manf continued the physiologist, 
raising his voice. ''Of exactly what does this won- 
drous human mechanism consist? 

''You may be surprised to hear the answer. We 
will take an average man weighing 150 pounds. He 
is made up of a large variety of substances. What is 
the recipe for making a man? 

"Take 3,649 cubic feet of gas, 10 gallons of water, 
a balloon-full of hydrogen, 1,200 eggs, enough iron to 
make four tenpenny nails, enough fat to make 75 
candles, and the phosphorus from 8,000 boxes of 
matches ; add about a pound of sugar and six teaspoon- 
fuls of salt — and you have a man! 

"His heart weighs from 8 to 12 ounces and meas- 

265 



WONDER STORIES 



ures 5 by 31/2 by 2% inches. It is surely the most 
hard-worked of human organs. It beats about 72 times 
a minute, while it performs its task of pumping 22% 
pounds of blood every minute, or 16 tons per day. 

*^ Order is heaven's first law! The proportions of 
the human figure are strictly mathematical. The 
whole figure is six times the length of the foot; the 
face is one-eighth and the hand one-tenth of the whole 
stature; the chest is a fourth; from the top of the 
chest to the highest point of the forehead is a seventh. 
The height is equal to the breadth with arms extended. 

^^The physically perfect man, according to an 
eminent authority, should weigh 154 pounds. His 
heart should beat 75 times a minute, and he should 
breathe 15 times a minute. In 24 hours he would 
vitiate 1,750 cubic feet of pure air to the extent of 
one per cent, and should therefore have 800 cubic feet 
of well ventilated space. The same authority gave no 
rule as to a man's height and breadth, which vary 
considerably not only in individuals, but in nation- 
alities. There is little doubt that diet affects the 
height of men. The tallness of the Kentuckians and 
Tennesseans is ascribed to the lime in the water which 
they drink, as that of Scotsmen to their oatmeal." 

The speaker paused for a few moments, as if to col- 
lect his thoughts, and then continued: 

^'Each organ of the body has its special value, 
but we may say that the brain is the most important 
organ of all, and this, because it is the organ of thought 
and of sensation. Psysiologists have naturally given 
special attention to the subject of the brain. And here 
I wish to speak of the researches of a great American 
physician, Edward Anthony Spitzka. 

^'He was born in New York, in 1876, and was edu- 
cated in the College of the City of New York. He 
took up the study of anatomy, especially that of the 

266 



STORY OF THE HUMAN BODY 

brain, in which his investigations have been of an ex- 
haustive character. I may mention that he examined 
the brain of Czolgosz, the assassin of President Mc- 
Kinley.'' 

**Is it true, professor,'' inquired one of the ladies, 
*Hhat a woman's brain is smaller than a man's?" 

^^Yes," replied the physiologist; ^Hhe brain of the 
average woman is about ^ve and a half ounces lighter 
than that of the average man. But it does not follow 
that woman is mentally inferior to man. Dr. Spitzka's 
researches have taught us that something besides the 
size of the brain must be taken into consideration, 
as we shall see later. 

**Let us watch this great physiologist at work in 
his laboratory at Jefferson College, Philadelphia. He 
has before him a number of large glass jars, filled with 
a transparent liquid, containing brains of various 
sizes, lying on wads of cotton. Each brain has been 
very carefully removed from the cranium, and is im- 
mediately weighed. It is then placed in a mixture of 
formalin and water, which prevents shrinkage. When 
it becomes sufficiently hardened, the examination com- 
mences. Wearing rubber gloves, the scientist takes 
the brain from the solution and peels off the mem- 
brane. He next separates it into its principal parts, 
each of which is measured and weighed. These pro- 
cesses are of vital importance, for it is by comparison 
of the various details that conclusions are reached 
as to the mental caliber of individuals. 

^'If this were indicated merely by the weight of 
the brain, we might well be surprised at the figures 
given by Dr. Spitzka regarding a hundred eminent 
persons, whose brains were examined after death, 
Tourgenief, the Eussian novelist, heads the list with 
2,102 grams. Edward Olney, the American mathe- 

267 



WONDER STORIES 



matician, has 1,701; George Francis Train, 1,525; 
Daniel Webster, 1,518; Walt Whitman, 1,282. 

'^One of the heaviest brains ever weighed (1,900 
grams) belonged to an English briclanaker. Few brains 
exceed 1,780 grams; and, of sixty more or less illus- 
trious men, only seven are in this class — Schiller, 
Abercrombie, Bismarck, Cuvier, Tourgenief, Crom- 
well and Byron. 

''You have no idea,'' continued the speaker, ''of 
the wonderful complexity of the human brain. We 
may compare it with a vast telephone system, with 
about nine billion wires connectino- with a central of- 
fice from which messages are flashed to every part of 
the body. When the mind is deranged by accident or 
disease, this telephone system is crippled and num- 
bers of the wires do not work. 

"In the lower animals the brain is apparently not 
so essential as in man. The experiment has been 
tried of removing the frontal lobes from cats and 
monkeys, and it seemed to make little difference to 
them. A frog has been kept alive eight months after 
its brain had been entirely removed. The only dif- 
ference seemed to be that it would not take food on its 
own account, but w^ould swallow it, if placed in its 
mouth. 

"I would say in conclusion that there are many 
questions concerning the brain yet unsolved. The 
many freaks of memory and the exhibition of inex- 
plicable faculties, oftentimes as a result of injury to 
the head, will doubtless receive some day a satisfactory 
explanation. We must expect to find a number of 
things difficult to explain in connection \\ith an organ 
of that most wonderful of faculties — human thought." 



268 



THE STORY OF THE OllNITIIOEOGlST 
AND THE BIRDS OF THJ^: AIR 



A SUDDEN burst of song from the feath(3red oc- 
cupant of a cage overhead caused every head to 
turn in its direction. A young man, who seemed 
to combine in his impressiv(j countenance tiie thouglit- 
ful asp(;ct of the student witfi the re(in(;d air of the 
artist, exclaimed, ^^That reminds me of my story.'' 

*'0h, yes, the story of the birds. Do tell it!'' cried 
out a dozen voices. 

^'It's an endhiss story," replied the young man. 
**I liavo taken up ornitliology, or the study of birds, 
as my lif(;vvork, and (iV(?ry day I find new marvc^ls in 
it. I feel that the longest life is all too siiort for it. 

*^I may be an enthusiast, but I can't imagine any- 
thing in creation more fascinating than birds. Their 
inexhaustible vari(ity, their exquisite beauty, their 
wonderful power of song, their marvellous instincts — 
these all combine to constitute a multifold and in- 
definable charm. 

^* Birds have played a prominent part in legend and 
folk-lore. We are all familiar with the eagle of Jove, 
the owl of Minerva, and the sacred ibis of the Egyp- 
tians. We know about Noah's dove of peace. We 
remember how that lover of animals, St. Francis, 
preached to the })irds. W(} have read the story of the 
planting of the hundred eyes of Argus in the pea- 
cock's tail. 

**But, to come from poetry to prose, do you real- 
ize the economic value of our feathered friends?" 

269 



WONDER STORIES 



The farmer, who was seated near the speaker, 
grunted his incredulity. 

^'My friend," said the ornithologist, turning to 
him, *^ without the birds, you could grow nothing — no 
corn, no wheat, no fruit. It is true that they eat some 
of your produce, but you should not grudge them that, 
when you remember how relentlessly they prey upon 
your deadly foes, the insects. Why, if it were not for 
the birds, the insects would crowd us off the earth! 

**Even the much maligned birds of prey are found 
to be beneficial. The increase in the pest of rats, each 
one of which costs twenty-five cents a year in the food 
he eats, is attributable to the habit of shooting owls 
and hawks. Owls feed almost exclusively upon rats 
and mice. In the West the decrease in the number 
of eagles is supposed to be the cause of the increase 
in the pest of prairie dogs. Nearly all the hawks — 
with the exception of Cooper's and the sharp-shinned 
hawk — ^prey upon field pests and only descend upon 
the chicken-roost under temptation. ' ' 

*^What makes the birds sing!" one of the ladies 
asked, impulsively. 

^^A very natural question," replied the Story- 
teller. *'It has often puzzled people how creatures 
with such tiny throats can produce such piercing and 
magnificent notes. The fact is. Nature has provided 
the song-birds with a special vocal organ, with which 
the throat and the tongue have nothing to do. So 
that they are all Pattis, or rather, I should say, 
Carusos (for only the male birds sing), without train- 
ing or effort. Of these songsters the most famous is 
the nightingale, which has not found its way to our 
shores. It sings only at night, and the effect of its 
thrilling song in the hush of midnight (as it has been 
my good fortune to hear) is indescribable. 

270 



STORY OF BIRDS 



''I must not forget to speak of the vision of birds, 
wMch in many cases is of extraordinary power. We 
have all heard that the eagle, unlike ourselves, can 
gaze at the sun without flinching. It is wonderful to 
see a vulture descend on carrion unerringly from a 
great height, or a fly-catcher dart from a distance upon 
the smallest insects. 

^ ^ But birds are credited with a sixth sense, by which 
they direct their course for long distances without the 
guidance of landmarks. And this brings me to speak 
of one of the most interesting facts in connection with 
birds — their migrations.'' 

The audience began to show increased attention. 

The ornithologist continued: ^^Only a small mi- 
nority of birds migrate, and they mostly exchange a 
northerly climate for a southerly on the approach of 
winter. About the same time each year they congre- 
gate and start their journey along a recognized route; 
the old males lead, the females coming next, and last 
the young birds. They will go for a thousand miles 
or more ; the fact that they find their way unerringly 
has led to the supposition of a sixth sense. Did you 
know that swifts return, year after year, from a dis- 
tance of 1,800 miles, not merely to the same locality, 
but to the very nest which they had occupied!" 

*^Are there any American names among eminent 
ornithologists r ' inquired some one. 

**0h, yes," was the emphatic reply, **not to speak 
of the early work of Mark Catesby, Alexander Wilson, 
Charles Lucien Bonaparte and others, who can over- 
estimate the debt which ornithology owes to John 
James Audubon? Born at Mandeville, in Louisiana, 
about 1780, he began, in 1827, the publication of his 
monumental work, ^ Birds of America.' It appeared 
in 87 folio parts, containing 435 plates with 1,065 
figures. This work went through a number of editions, 

271 



WONDER STORIES 



and the first edition is now very valuable. We must 
not forget, too, the important contributions of Spencer 
Fullerton Baird, who lived from 1823 to 1887, and the 
practical work done by Joel Asaph Allen, the present 
Curator of Birds and Mammals at the Museum of 
Natural History, New York. 

^^But if you want to study birds far better than in 
books, you should pay a visit to the flying cage in the 
New York Zoological Park. It is the largest and 
finest aviary in the world. The birds themselves hardly 
realize any deprivation of freedom when they find 
themselves amongst forest trees with wide spreading 
branches under a cage of wire, 55 feet high, 75 feet 
wide, and 150 feet long. There is a large pool of 
water, in which aquatic birds of every kind — herons, 
pelicans, flamingoes, ducks, and geese — disport them- 
selves. The smaller birds perch in the trees or walk 
on the banks of the pool. 

^' There is also a spacious birds' house, for use in 
cold weather. Here also are kept permanently, in a 
series of cages, blue herons and other species whose 
quarrelsome habits debar them from the society of 
their fellows. For it is a sad truth that the famous 
line * Birds in their little nests agree' must be taken 
with much qualification. It is amusing to watch the 
little disagreements that are constantly arising even 
among the better-mannered birds. And sometimes — 
I have noticed it with the pelicans — they indulge in 
horseplay and try to frighten one another. 

^^Our feathered friends are, for the most part, 
great gluttons. A young bird will consume more than 
its own weight of food in a working — or rather, eating- 
day. A plover was seen to eat an average of 200 lo- 
custs and similar large insects a day. You will notice 
that birds seem to be always eating, at least whenever 
they get the chance. The fact is, that all this food 

272 



STORY OF BIRDS 



is necessary for sustaining their high temperature 
and great bodily activity. 

^^I have spoken of the infinite variety of birds. Let 
us consider for a moment two extreme types. There 
is the ostrich — the giant of the bird kingdom — taller 
than a man, weighing 200 pounds; it can kick like a 
horse, and run as fast as an express train. Then there 
is the humming-bird, hardly larger than a good-sized 
bee, with its exquisite, vari-colored plumage, glitter- 
ing like a living jewel in the tropical sun — surely the 
most beautiful object in creation. 

^'Yes, birds certainly possess what the poet calls 
*the fatal gift of beauty' — literally fatal to the birds 
that are hunted for their plumage. The white heron 
has been almost extinguished in this country, owing 
to the shooting of it for the plumes — which appear 
only during nesting time — and the consequent death of 
the young by starvation. Sport, too, takes its deadly 
toll. Of the countless millions of passenger pigeons 
that swarmed throughout the country in Audubon's 
time, only seven were known to exist recently — three 
in the Zoological Garden at Cincinnati, and four in a 
collection of living birds in Milwaukee. But I am glad 
to say that bird reservations have now been established 
in many parts of the country, particularly along the 
coasts of the Southern States, where colonies occupy 
whole islands during the breeding season, having 
learned that they are there safe from attack. Reserva- 
tions have also been established along the line of mi- 
gration through the Middle States as well as in Oregon 
and Washington. It is confidently anticipated that 
within a few years more birds will have ceased to be 
objects of persecution and will be, instead, carefully 
protected everywhere in America.'' 

^ ' Are there any birds that cannot fly at all ? " 

^^Yes," answered the ornithologist. ^^The kiwi of 

273 



WONDER STORIES 



New Zealand, which is on the verge of extinction, has 
no wings. Ostriches and some other large birds have 
no wings worth mentioning. Yon see, in treeless 
regions these birds have taken to the ground entirely 
and in the course of time the organs of flight have 
gradually degenerated through disuse. A curious case 
is that of the penguin, a large, Antarctic sea-bird. Cir- 
cumstances forced him to find his food in the sea ; and 
his wings serve him to swim, instead of to fly. 

^^ 'The flight of a bird in the air' was reckoned by 
the Wise Man as one of the great mysteries of 
Nature, and, indeed, it is a wonderful thing. For ages 
men have admired the ease and grace with which the 
bird soars upward and onward through the heavens, 
and lately have taken to emulating it, calling the new 
science of air-travel, aviation, from the Latin word 
for a bird. The bird's wing, which serves for model 
in our serial flights, is a marvelous specimen of 
Nature's handiwork. The wings differ greatly in size 
and power, according to the needs and habits of their 
possessors. That giant of oceanic birds, the condor, 
has wings that reach an expanse of nearly twelve feet." 

*'How many different kinds of birds are there?" 
inquired one of the audience. 

^' About thirteen thousand," replied the Story- 
teller. 

''Now, my story is told," he said, ^'but I will add 
that all bird-lovers are pleased with the new law which 
forbids the importing of aigrettes, made from the 
plumes of the osprey, the white heron and the bird of 
paradise. Millinery will suffer, but the long practiced 
cruelty to these magnificent birds will cease. 



274 



THE STORY OF THE BOTANIST AND 
THE KINGDOM OF PLANTS 



THE banker entered the library, with a fine orchid 
in his button-hole. It attracted the attention of 
one of the party, a middle-aged man, whose 
studious expression was tempered by humorous 
twinkles in his eyes. 

^^An Arethusa hulhosa/' he remarked, ^*one of six 
thousand or more species. Now, as a change after 
counting money, you might count the seeds in it!'' 

The banker smiled. 

^'Well," said the other, ^'you might find yourself a 
millionaire in seeds. Some of these orchids have as 
many as a million and three-quarters." 

^^It's the botanist!'' cried out several voices. ^'Go 
ahead with your story." 

^'Well, ladies and gentlemen," began the botanist, 
'^I will try to tell you something of the studies to 
which I have devoted the best part of my life. The 
science of botany is comparatively modern; but the 
observation of plants began when ^the Lord God put 
man into a garden to dress it.' 

^'You need not possess any technical knowledge to 
love and admire beautiful plants and flowers. It was 
not his scientific attainments, but his innate love of the 
beautiful in Nature, that led the great Linnaeus to fall 
down on his knees and thank God the first time he 
saw Scotch heather. 

*' Nowadays we can view the entire floral pano- 
rama without going far from our own doors. And 

275 



WONDER STORIES 



here I wish to say that I am proud as an American 
and gratified as a scientist that our nation provides, 
in its splendid botanical collections, such unequaled 
opportunities for its people to study the plant life of 
every country under heaven! 

*'Only yesterday,'' he continued, *^I was walking — 
for the thousandth time — through the Botanical Gar- 
dens of New York, and was impressed anew with their 
beauty and splendor. The spaciousness and natural 
charm of the grounds, the richness and variety of the 
exhibits, and the architectural beauty of the buildings, 
all combine to constitute a veritable botanical paradise. 

* ^ The whole world has been ransacked to stock this 
place. Its agents have been distributed at one time in 
regions as distant from each other as England, Porto 
Eico, Bolivia, Newfoundland and Sumatra. In the 
beautiful palm house may be seen magnificent speci- 
mens of palms of many varieties, shoots of bamboo, 
banana trees, with their golden fruit, and other prod- 
ucts of the tropics. Outside are growing the seaweeds 
of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland." 

*^How many different kinds of plants are there 
in the world f asked one of the audience. 

*^We estimate about two hundred thousand 
species,'' replied the Story-teller. *^You must remem- 
ber that we include not only fruits, vegetables, flow- 
ers, shrubs, and trees, but also fungi, lichens, mosses, 
and such things. 

** You may think," continued the botanist, *Hhat the 
line of demarcation between plants and animals is 
very clearly marked and that their mode of life is 
essentially different. But wait a minujte. Look at our 
familiar friend, the sponge, who has managed to scrape 
into the animal kingdom" — the zoologist smiled and 
nodded assent. *'Well, there are plants that excel him 
in responsiveness and general intelligence. Plants eat, 

276 



STORY OF PLANT LIFE 



breathe, and sleep ; they can see ; they travel, by land 
and sea; they suffer sickness; they bore for water; 
they trap insects; sometimes they get angry and — .'' 

Here a roar of laughter from the audience inter- 
rupted the speaker. 

**I fear, ladies and gentlemen," said the Story- 
teller, *Hhat you are incredulous. I can assure you 
it's all true. You may think it funny that plants should 
sleep. Why, every child has seen the daisy fold its 
petals at nightfall, in preparation for its night's rest. 
On the other hand, the field camomile prefers to drop 
its petals and fold them closely about the stalk. Some 
plants, as the crocus and hyacinth, sleep through the 
winter. 

^'As to plants seeing, the only point in dispute 
is whether they are conscious of what they see. Science 
has demonstrated the fact that they have eyes, by 
reproducing, by means of photography and the micro- 
scope, the visual impressions made on them, includ- 
ing objects at various distances, and even persons and 
houses. It's rather startling to think that, when you 
consider yourself quite alone, you are under the ob- 
servation of hundreds of inquisitive eyes — that an 
apple tree is gauging you or a Virginia creeper is 
eyeing you up and down! 

**IIave you heard of walking ferns? They produce 
fronds, which, after tapering to a dainty tip, drop to 
the ground and take root as a new plant. It is true that 
they don't walk very far, but form a community, 
linked together by a thread-like chain. Some plants 
send suckers underground, which appear later as sep- 
arate plants. Others emigrate to distant parts. The 
seeds take passage on birds or animals, or they swim 
over the water. They do this, as men do, to better 
their circumstances. They don't like their neighbors, 
or are dissatisfied with the local food supply. Needless 

277 



WONDER STORIES 



to say, weeds are great travelers. Most of the weeds 
which plague the farmer in this country were immi- 
grants, with no fear of deportation before them." 

^'Did you not say that plants actually suffer?" 
asked the doctor. 

**Why, doctor," answered the botanist, *4f you 
ever saw the coughing bean in one of its paroxysms, 
you would consider it a subject for your professional 
attendance. When dust settles on its lungs, it gives 
a mighty cough, turning red in the face with the effort, 
and out flies the dust. But a still sadder sight is a 
plant suffering from fever. I wonder whether any of 
the ladies present, when slicing an onion, ever think 
that it exhibits two of the most characteristic symp- 
toms of a feverish person; that is, its temperature 
rises, as much as three degrees, and its breathing be- 
comes more vigorous. The fever reaches its height 
in about 24 hours and abates in four or ^ve days. 
That is, if the onion survives. 

**Now, I will give you," resumed the Story-teller, 
after the laughter had subsided, *^some further in- 
stances of the manifestations in plants of a power akin 
to intelligence, to say the least. Plants are great 
drinkers, and they will go to any length, literally, to 
obtain water. One thirsty turnip got the tip of its 
root into a crack in a field drain, and the tip grew 
six feet in its effort to get at the water. 

*'Some plants are very sensitive; others are too 
sensitive and are thoroughly ill-tempered. The sweet- 
pea, when its tendrils are touched with a stick, takes 
no notice at first, but after a time the tendril begins to 
twist around the stick. But a Virginia creeper is ir- 
ritated at once, and the adhesive pads on its tendrils 
fasten tenaciously on any object that touches them. 

^'You are doubtless aware that plants depend 
largely for their fertilization on the insects which 

278 



STORY OF PLANT LIFE 



carry the pollen from one flower to another. White 
clover will present a full, round head to the visiting 
bee, as if to invite him to a share of the pollen, but 
will fold down a floret, from which it has been trans- 
ferred, as if in warning that the stock is exhausted. 

*^The main food of plants consists of nitrogenous 
substances which they take from the soil^ but some 
plants prefer a stronger diet. Our own country fur- 
nishes a notable example of this in the * pitcher plant,' 
which has a predilection for insects and displays a 
diabolical ingenuity in capturing them. Each of its 
leaves is supported on a long stalk, which below ex- 
pands into a cavity, capable of holding half a pint or 
more of fluid. At the top of the pitcher is a tempting 
display of honey, and the unwary insect, whilst seek- 
ing it, sinks into the depths below, where it is duly 
digested by the greedy plant. 

**Then there are cannibal plants that never forage 
for themselves, but live off their neighbors. Notable 
among these is the dodder vine, which chokes its ar- 
boreal victim and drinks its life-blood." 

The speaker paused. *^Tell us some more about 
plants,'' cried a young lady. 

*^Why, I could go on till doomsday," said the 
botanist. **I could tell you of an Indian tree that 
gives you an electric shock when you touch it; or of 
the Asiatic star tree, that shines like a lighthouse; 
or of the ^compass plant' of our own country, by feel- 
ing whose leaves you know where you are; or of an 
African lily, that will warm your room like a stove. 

*^ There is no end to the variety and wonder of the 
botanical world. I am satisfied if I have awakened in 
any of my hearers some little interest in studies which 
have become the absorbing passion of my life." 



19 



279 



THE STORY OF THE PHYSICIAN AND 
HIS FIGHT AGAINST DISEASE 



A DISTINGUISHED-LOOKING man, with a Van 
Dyke beard, entered the library hurriedly. He 
laid his black leather case on the table, and pulled 
off his gloves, 

^^My business," he said, *4s fighting death. It is 
the age-long battle of the ' survival of the fittest. ' The 
great conqueror wields his sword over the human race, 
while we drive him back with our drastic methods of 
warfare. To me, it is the noblest of all fights.'' 

** Which wins in the end?" asked one of the Story- 
tellers. 

** Death!" replied the speaker, an eminent physi- 
cian, * ' death is the final victor. All that our skill and 
genius can do is to parley and reconnoiter, and finally 
surrender. 

^*But the story of medicine," continued the 
doctor, *^is the greatest story that the world has ever 
revealed. Hourly we are forcing disease to retreat; 
daily we are extending the years of men's lives. The 
time may come when men will pass away only because 
they have fulfilled their duties on earth and there is 
no good reason for them to longer remain here. Then 
death will be the great desire of the human heart; 
it will be, not the woe, but the ambition of the human 
race. It may be many eons before we can reach this 
high estate in our civilization, but we are now mak- 
ing tremendously rapid progress. 

'^The science of medicine was in its infancy only a 

280 



STORY OF THE PHYSICIAN 



hundred years ago,'' said the physician. ** Barbers 
still practiced surgery, and it was said, in tribute to 
the great English surgeon, Hunter, that he had made 
gentlemen of doctors. The only discovery of per- 
manent value before the days of Hunter was that of 
vaccination against smallpox, which Jenner established 
in England. 

**But the world owes a great debt to this country 
for the part which it has played in the development 
of medical science. America has a long range of illus- 
trious names in medicine, dating back to Dr. Wootton, 
who went to Virginia in 1607 as Surgeon-Greneral of 
the London Company, and Dr. Eussell, who was with 
Captain Smith in his exploration of Chesapeake Bay 
during the following year. Many physicians migrated 
to America during the seventeenth century. In 1636 
the Assembly of Virginia passed a fee bill for surgeons 
and apothecaries. The fees were often paid in to- 
baco, lead, powder, and wampum. 

*^ During the seventeenth century, a popular book, 
sold in 1677 by John Foster, of Boston, was pub- 
lished, entitled *A Brief Eule to Guide the Common 
People of New England How to Treat Themselves 
and Others in the Smallpocks or Measles.' The Rev. 
Cotton Mather was one of those who helped to spread 
the practice of inoculation against smallpox, and, after 
the introduction of vaccination, its use became speedily 
universal throughout the country. 

*^The principles of Hahnemann, who originated 
homeopathic medicine, were early incorporated in a 
homeopathic college at Philadelphia, and undoubtedly 
led the reaction against the excessive use of drugs. 

*^I come now to the greatest American triumph in 
the medical field, which followed the discovery of the 
bacterial nature of infectious diseases — the abolition 
of yellow fever. The ravages of this disease along 

281 



WONDER STORIES 



the American littoral are frightful. In 1840 it slew 
69 per cent of the garrison of Georgetown, British 
Guiana. In 1898 nearly 95 per cent of all those at- 
tacked in Eio de Janeiro died. The mortality aver- 
aged about 40 per cent during mild epidemics. 

*'Here was a foeman worthy of the steel of the 
American doctor. With characteristic energy he threw 
himself into the fray. In the year 1881 Dr. Charles 
Finlay, of Havana, put forward the suggestion that 
yellow fever might be due to the conveyance of a 
bacterial organism through the bite of a mosquito, in- 
stead of its arising spontaneously from marsh gases. 
He picked the stegomyia fasciata^ or ^ tiger mosquito' 
as the agent. Experiments proved this to be a prob- 
ability. Mosquitoes were fed on yellow fever patients 
and then allowed to bite healthy persons, living under 
sanitary arrangements in a camp, and the disease 
developed in these. In the year 1900 an American 
commission was appointed to investigate the subject. 
The experiments were repeated with a like result, 
while it was shown that healthy persons, sleeping in 
the blankets used previously by yellow fever patients, 
but not exposed to mosquito bites, failed to contract 
the disease. The germ was found to be small enough 
to pass through a porcelain filter. It incubated for a 
period of twelve days after being taken into the body 
of the insect, and was then capable of infecting man 
for nearly two months. 

**A curious fact was shown in this connection, ex- 
plaining why healthy persons can often pass through 
infected regions with impunity during the daytime, 
but not at night. The female mosquito, which is the 
culpable party, requires a meal of blood three days 
before laying her eggs. During this period she bites 
during the night and day; after depositing the eggs, 
she bites only at night. Hence, since the germ re- 

282 



STORY OF THE PHYSICIAN 



quires twelve days to develop in the mosquitoes body, 
it is conveyed only by night in a condition which will 
enable it to transfer the disease. 

*^In February, 1901, Major W. C. Gorgas, chief 
sanitary official of Havana, issued an order for the 
cleaning up of the city. All receptacles holding 
water — in which the mosquito larvae develop — were 
required to be kept mosquito-proof with screens. 
House-to-house inspection was begun; oil was poured 
on all pools of stagnant water ; breeding grounds were 
drained; hospitals and houses containing yellow fever 
patients were screened, and infected places were fumi- 
gated with pyrethrum powder. At the end of a twelve- 
month, no further cases of yellow fever developed 
within the city. There was one death during 1907, and 
the report issued in April, 1910, showed the city of 
Havana to be entirely free from the disease. An out- 
break in New Orleans, in 1905, was promptly sup- 
pressed, a medical staff of fifty doctors being rushed 
to the scene. 

**But it was in connection with the work of the 
Panama Canal that the most notable victory was won. 
I do not hesitate to say that only our medical science 
rendered that gigantic scheme possible of accomplish- 
ment, and you will understand this when I tell you 
that the mortality amongst the workmen had been 
from 60 to 70 per thousand, until the American sani- 
tary officers took charge. In 1908, three years had 
elapsed since the occurrence of a single case of yellow 
fever there. The same methods have been adopted 
by the progressive South American nations, with 
similar satisfactory results. 

''In 1848, Dr. Josiah Nott ascribed the cause of 
malaria to the anopheles mosquito. The same methods 
that have abolished yellow fever have been followed 
in this case, with the same results. Though most of 

283 



WONDER STORIES 



the work has been accomplished outside the limits 
of the United States, America can here, too, claim that 
an American inaugurated the work. 

'' Another triumph of American medical skill has 
been in the discovery that the dread scourge of trop- 
ical dysentery is due to the presence of the amoeba 
in drinking water. The Philippines have been largely 
freed from this ailment in consequence. This by no 
means exhausts the list of our triumphs. Within the 
past five years much has been learned about the ^hook- 
worm,' and hundreds of thousands of sufferers from 
its infection in our southern states have been cured. 

*' Among the latest work along the line of bac- 
teriological research must be mentioned, that done by 
Dr. Simon Flexner at the Rockefeller Institute, New 
York. To him and his fellow-workers are due the 
discovery of the cause of spinal meningitis and in- 
fantile paralysis, both of which diseases seem likely 
to be permanently cured by the anti-toxins which have 
been invented. 

*'In 1910, there were 155 medical schools in the 
United States and Canada, ^vith 23,927 students. 
Nearly all of them offer facilities of the first order 
for the training of physicians and surgeons. The 
center of medical research is now admittedly America. 

''Such,'' said the physician in conclusion, his face 
glowing with enthusiasm, "is a brief review of what 
medical science is doing for the world. But all our 
achievements are but stepping-stones to greater 
things. Is there any limit to our advance in the cam- 
paign against the dread ministers of Elug Death — 
pain and disease ? To give health to all, to exterminate 
human suffering — such are the ends to which we ^ysi- 
cians devote our lives." 



284 



THE STORY OF THE SURGEON AND 
HOW HE SAVES OUR LIVES 



CONSIDERABLE interest was aroused among 
the Story-tellers by the entry into the library 
of a tall, clean-shaven young man, clad in a long, 
white robe. In his hand he held a piece of shining 
steel. 

^ ' This little instrument ! " he exclaimed, in ringing 
tones, holding up a scalpel — the surgeon's tool, 4s 
doing, I maintain, more for humanity than anything 
else in the world. It is saving innumerable lives every 
hour of the day. It is curing thousands of pain and 
deformity. It has sent millions rejoicing on their way 
in renewed hope and vigor.'' 

A murmur of applause ran round the room. 

^^As I have indicated," continued the speaker, *^I 
am a surgeon. Surgery is one of the most ancient 
of sciences. It was practiced to some extent by the 
Egyptians some 1,500 years before Christ. From time 
immemorial the Hindus have performed operations 
of various kinds. The Greek physician, Hippocrates, 
in 460 B. C, summed up in a masterly work, 'The 
Laboratory of the Surgeon,' all that was known of 
surgery at that time. After him, little advance was 
made in surgery down to modern times. 

*'It is when we come to the surgery of the present 
day that we realize its blessings. The old-time sur- 
geon had to inflict temporary pain, with a view to 
permanent relief; but the introduction of anaesthetics 
has rendered operations painless, and I am proud to 

285 



WONDER STORIES 



say that in this field of research our fellow-country- 
men have particularly distinguished themselves. Not 
only has the human race been spared an incalculable 
amount of suffering, but medical science has been 
enabled to develop to such a degree that practically 
no part of the human organism exists which cannot 
now be made the subject of exploration. Deep-seated 
tumors, abdominal ailments whose occurrence formerly 
meant certain death, can now be treated with almost 
positive assurance of a simple and quick recovery. 

^^Anaesthetics were not entirely unknown to the 
ancients. But such as they had were only adopted 
here and there at different epochs. It remained for 
the discovery of ether and chloroform to make the 
use of anaesthetics universal. 

^^In spite of the discovery of nitrous oxide, or laugh- 
ing gas, and various experiments with ether, anaes- 
thetics remained scientific curiosities until, in 1844, Dr. 
Plorace Wells, a dentist of Hartford, Connecticut, un- 
derwent the extraction of a tooth while under the in- 
influence of nitrous oxide. He announced the benefit 
of his discovery to the public. Meanwhile, two years 
before. Dr. Crawford W. Long, of Georgia, had re- 
moved a tumor from a jawbone painlessly, with the 
use of ether. Dr. Long hesitated, however, to make 
use of his discovery; and, on September 30, Dr. W. 
T. G. Morton, a Boston dentist, who had worked under 
Wells, announced the discovery of ether. In October 
of that year, he administered ether to a patient upon 
whom an operation was performed by Dr. John C. 
Warren at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Had 
the administration resulted in the death of the patient, 
the whole history of anaesthetics might have been dif- 
ferent. But the operation was triumphantly success- 
ful. The news quickly reached England, and, by the 

286 



STORY OF THE SURGEON 



end of the year, the use of ether in operations was 
firmly established. 

*^In the month of November, 1847, Sir James Simp- 
son, a Scottish physician, on the advice of Wildie, a 
chemist of Liverpool, made some experiments which 
gave chloroform to the world. This completed the 
trinity of anaesthetics. In Europe chloroform is pre- 
ferred; in America ether. Each has its advantages. 
Chloroform is indicated for slight operations, for 
which nitrous oxide is not productive of a sufficiently 
deep state of anaesthesia; ether for prolonged ones. 
The after results of chloroform are less unpleasant, 
and it is administered by preference at the extremes 
of life. 

^' Since the period indicated, the improvements have 
all been in the direction of administering ether and 
chloroform. About the year 1876, it was found that the 
asphyxiating sensations which these substances (par- 
ticularly ether) produce, could be minimized by ad- 
mitting oxygen at the same time through a valve, and, 
particularly in starting anaesthetization with nitrous 
oxide. 

** During the present year (1913), an advance has 
been made on the previous methods of administering 
anaesthetics, which seems likely to prove of the great- 
est benefit to surgery. The inventor of this process 
is Dr. Crile, an American surgeon. His discovery con- 
sists in recognition of the fact that, while anaesthetics 
destroy consciousness of pain, they do not abrogate 
the shock. The brain feels the operation, though it 
does not translate it into terms of physical suffering. 
Dr. Crile 's method is to cut off all connection between 
the brain and the seat of the wound, by a local applica- 
tion. It is believed that by this process many opera- 
tions, which would otherwise result fatally, will be 
performed with safety. 

287 



WONDER STORIES 



''Nearly thirty years ago, a remarkable discovery 
was made by Dr. Corning, of New York. This con- 
sisted in the indnction of general insensibility to pain 
(analgesia) without the production of unconscious- 
ness, by the injection of cocaine into the spinal column. 
Under this process the patient, while wide awake and 
conscious, can undergo operations of the first magni- 
tude without any sensation of the cutting. But this 
method did not come into general use. It was found 
that the temporary paralysis induced by it might be- 
come permanent. In 1904, Fourneau introduced 
stovaine for the same purpose. 

^* Among the most celebrated of American sur- 
geons of an older day are Valentine Mott, Ephraim 
McDowell, and J. Marion Sims. Many of the triumphs 
of surgery were achieved by American practitioners, 
particularly in the ligature of the larger arteries 
for the cure of aneurism. At a later date Americans 
were the first to demonstrate the exact nature of ap- 
pendicitis and to emphasize the necessity of operative 
measures. McBurney is especially associated with the 
development of the technic of the operation for ap- 
pendicitis. The Mayo brothers, of Eochester, Minne- 
sota, have established a surgical hospital in that little 
town to which patients and doctors go from all parts 
of the world. 

"A great revolution in surgery has come about by 
the introduction of the antiseptic, and later the aseptic, 
treatment of wounds. By the former method the 
wound is disinfected, in order to render it immune to 
noxious germs and thus prevent blood poisoning, or 
other trouble. On its introduction, the mortality in 
hospitals fell in a remarkable degree. 

"The aseptic treatment means the sterilizing of 
everything connected with the operation. White 
robes — such as you see me wear — are put on; and 

288 



STORY OF THE SCIENTIST 



some even put on masks and rubber gloves of great 
flexibility. 

**If time permitted, I should like to give you some 
account of the marvels that modern surgery is per- 
forming. I can, however, only refer briefly to a few 
cases. A few years back, a woman, blind from birth, 
had her sight given at the age of 36 by means of 
an operation; the first of the kind, I believe, in the 
annals of surgery. 

^^ There is a man going about with an aorta, or 
main artery, of gold, which was placed by an ex- 
tremely delicate operation and which does all the work 
required of it. 

*^ Another remarkable operation was in a case of 
twins of the 'Siamese variety,' where the live baby 
was successfully separated from its dead companion. 
I think such an operation had never been attempted 
before. 

*'In conclusion, I would mention the moral, as dis- 
tinguished from the physical, benefits conferred oc- 
casionally by surgery. Several cases have occurred 
of children, whose wayward conduct was the despair 
of their parents, but was found eventually to be due 
to some unnoticed injury of the head. This'' — once 
more raising his scalpel — ''set to work, and, as if by 
magic, the child's whole temperament seemed to change 
and its bad habits disappeared. The connection be- 
tween the mind and the body is very intimate, and it 
is interesting to consider surgery as a moral agency. 
This is thrown in as good measure with the incal- 
culable mass of benefits that surgery has conferred 
on the world." 



289 



THE STORY OF THE SCIENTIST AND 
A VISIT TO HIS LABORATORY 



ON the night on which this story was told one of 
the Story-tellers stepped to the table. Taking a 
piece of paper and a fine pointed pencil, he 
made an almost invisible dot. 

*^Do yon see that dot!'' he asked. 

Those standing near enongh gazed intently over 
the paper and said that they could barely see it. 

''Do you think,'' he went on, ''that you could 
weigh the amount of lead in that dot? Well, never 
mind. It weighs three or four billion times as much as 
what I am going to talk about — the electron. You 
have heard so much of the big things in the world that 
it will be a change to hear of the very smallest. 

"We speak of an 'atom' of anything, meaning a 
very small quantity. Until recently the atom was re- 
garded as the smallest particle of matter. Its very 
name means 'indivisible.' But we have lately discov- 
ered that the atom is very much divisible. We can 
split it into electrons." 

"What is an electron!" asked one young lady, who 
had been listening intently. 

"An electron," replied the Story-teller, "is noth- 
ing more or less than a very minute charge of elec- 
tricity, and this charge has been formed with a small 
particle of the all-pervading ether. This is a sub- 
stance that entirely fills all the space in the universe. 
Although we cannot smell, see, hear, feel, or taste it, 
we know that something of this sort must exist, for 

290 



STORY OF THE SURGEON 



example, between the sun, the stars, and the earth, in 
order to convey the waves of light for millions and 
millions of miles, just as surely as we know that water 
exists between a rock dropped in the center of a pond 
and a piece of wood near the shore, bobbing up and 
down on the waves from that rock. 

*'Now, as I have said, these electrons are negative 
charges of electricity. I will take five needles, mag- 
netize them, and stick them through the center of a 
email cork, in a bowl of water, so that they will float 
in an upright position, and so that the south pole of 
each is pointing upward. Everyone of them will move 
to the side of the dish and seem to try to get just as 
far away from the others as possible. 

' ' On the other hand, they will be attracted to a 
magnet. Now, it is in a very similar way that the 
electrons, since they allure negative charges, repel 
each other; but, at the same time, they are supposed 
to be in motion, and, this motion being circular, they 
generate a small amount of electricity — on exactly the 
same principle that it is generated by a large dynamo. 
This electricity, in turn, is positive, and we can imag- 
ine a group of electrons revolving in what we might 
call orbits, resembling, in a very small way, the sun 
and planets. 

*'In this way, we obtain a body composed of a num- 
ber of electrons, each of which is negative, but by its 
motion is generating a positive charge. Each of these 
electrons traveling at a high rate of speed drags along 
with it a portion of the surrounding ether — ^much as 
the swirl of water follows a ship. This group of elec- 
trons, each with its accompanying portion of ether, 
forms a body known as the atom. 

^'It is in this way,'' he continued, impressively, 
*^that the universe is built up. Thus, we can imagine 
a certain number of electrons becoming mutually at- 

291 



WONDER STORIES 



tracted in a certain way, having a negative charge, 
and forming an atom of hydrogen. Then let a large 
number become grouped in a different form, and with 
a positive charge, and we have an atom of gold. Is it 
really any more absurd to think of this than it is to go 
to a brickyard and see a large number of bricks, and 
then see a few of these bricks arranged in a certain 
way to make a sidewalk, while a large number ar- 
ranged in a different way will make a sky-scraper? 

^'Now I am going to speak of something eminently 
practical in connection with electrons. Did you know 
that X-rays come from them! That is the origin of 
X-rays, but their nature is a mystery. It may be that 
the electrons, in their flight, send waves of some sort 
through the surrounding ether, just as a boat going 
through water will send waves of water to the shore. 
Certain it is, that they are not affected in any way by 
a magnetic force. 

** X-rays were discovered by Wilhelm Konrad 
Eoentgen, a Oerman physicist, in 1896; and, in 1901, 
he received the Nobel prize for physics, in recognition 
of his discovery. X-rays, as you know, are a method 
of photographing the unseen; they have, so to speak, 
the power of ^second sight,' and ignore the surface to 
delve into what is hidden beneath it. 

^'When the news of this discovery burst on an as- 
tonished world, it was quickly realized how inesti- 
mable its value would be in surgery and medicine. No 
longer would the doctor have to work in uncertainty. 
The exact location of a bullet or other foreign sub- 
stance could be known; a malignant growth could be 
studied. 

^'Forthwith this magical apparatus became an ap- 
purtenance of every well-equipped hospital and part 
of the outfit of every up-to-date surgeon. Nowhere in 
the world has the use of the X-ray been more exten- 

292 



STORY OF THE SCIENTIST 



sively developed than in the United States; nowhere 
have their possibilities received more patient and ex- 
haustive study. 

*^This has been pathetically illustrated in the long 
list of American martyrs to this department of 
science. The continual use of these powerful rays 
causes a mysterious sickness, which often destroys the 
fingers, before proving fatal. The latest victim was 
one who has done for this study more than any other 
man in the country, and, in fact, invented what is 
known as the X-ray tube — Burton E. Baker, of Hart- 
ford, Connecticut. 

^* Almost every day brings fresh evidence of the 
value of the X-rays in surgery and medicine. One 
notable result has been the ability to tell with cer- 
tainty the difference between cancerous and non-can- 
cerous growths, and hence to know whether an opera- 
tion is necessary. More than this, the application of 
the X-rays has succeeded in actually curing cancer. 

*'One of the most extraordinary tests was that 
made with Dr. J. R. Cocke, of Boston, who had com- 
pletely lost his sight at the age of three weeks. A 
particularly powerful current was applied to his head, 
and various objects were held successively between 
his head and the glowing tube. At once he described 
them accurately, though not by name. A bunch of 
keys, for example, with one longer than the others, 
he described as a darkness with a straight line in the 
center and a circle above. 

*^ Needless to say, that army surgeons find much 
use for the X-rays, and the treatment of the wounded 
is now very different from what it was when bullets 
were found only by probing and operation. The 
wounded man is relieved at once, and so regains 
his strength rapidly; and the number of deaths from 
wounds is materially lessened. By a special process, 

293 



WONDER STORIES 



connected with the X-ray, it is possible to ascertain 
the exact depth of the bullet, and, needless to say, this 
simplifies the work of extracting it. 

*'An unexpected result followed the application of 
the X-rays to a negro for lupus, which had affected 
his nose and a part of his face. It was found that 
after treatment had been continued daily for over a 
month, the skin on the affected part had become en- 
tirely white. The skin was exactly like that of an or- 
dinary white man, and had simply lost its dark hue, 
because the rays had destroyed the pigment which 
caused it. But, according to the doctors, such a change 
could not be permanent. 

**Now I come to one of the most remarkable tri- 
umphs of these wonderful rays. You know that it is 
difficult to find an absolutely certain indication of the 
presence of death, and many persons have a haunting 
fear of the fate of premature burial. Now the matter 
seems to be set at rest. In the case of a living person, 
the abdominal organs are invisible under the rays, but 
are clearly seen in the case of the dead. 

** Multifarious, indeed,'' said the Story-teller in 
conclusion, **are the uses to which this new invention 
is being put. Post-offices use it to detect smuggling 
in registered letters ; the rays are flashed onto oysters, 
to discover any possible pearls within, and into eggs, 
to test their status as edibles. A Cincinnati man an- 
nounces that he can save four months' time by tan- 
ning hides by means of them. These mysterious rays 
will, I have no doubt, influence human life more and 
more in the future, as new possibilities for their use 
are discovered. We live in a world of revelation. ' ' 



294 



THE STORY OF THE PHOTOGRAPHER 

WHO RECORDS THE WORLD'S 

EVENTS 



A BLINDING flash of light swept through the 
room. There was a loud report like that of an 
explosion. 

''Thank you!'' exclaimed a young woman, who 
stood behind a camera under the arch leading from the 
librarian's study. *'I trust that we have secured an 
excellent photograph of these distinguished Story- 
tellers." 

A ripple of laughter passed over the gathering. 

''Tell us the story of the camera," pleaded several 
of the feminine celebrities. 

"It is a wonder story, I assure you," exclaimed 
the young woman photographer. ' ' Through this inno- 
cent-looking little lens the scenes of the earth have 
been brought before our eyes, the faces of the peoples 
of all nations and climes are preserved for the genera- 
tions. It is one of the greatest factors in our modern 
life. To-day we can sit among our photographs and 
look up the world's events." 

"When did photography commence!" interrupted 
some one. 

"It had its origin," replied the Story-teller, "in 
the 'camera obscura.' The first camera was literally a 
room, darkened, with the exception of a small hole in 
the window shutter, through which the sun shone on 
the whitened surface of the wall within, which received 
the faint, inverted image of outside scenes. This was 
20 295 



WONDER STORIES 



the invention of Giambattista della Porta, an Italian 
philosopher, in the latter half of the sixteenth century. 
In 1727, J. H. Schultze, a German, who has become 
known as the ' Columbus of photography, ' obtained the 
first actual photographic copies of writing. Various 
experiments were made with chloride of silver, but 
little progress was made until, in 1814, Joseph Niepce, 
a Frenchman, succeeded in producing permanent pic- 
tures by a process which he called heliography. In 
1832, another Frenchman, Daguerre, invented the fa- 
mous process, called ^daguerreotype' after him, which 
consisted in exposing a metal plate covered with silver 
solution. Subsequently he developed in a darkened 
room the impression, which was rendered permanent 
by special chemical treatment." 

**Is it known of what actual person the first photo 
was taken?'' asked some one. 

**Yes, positively," replied the Story-teller. **It 
was an American woman, Dorothy Draper, who was 
photographed by her brother, John W. Draper, in 
1840. 

*^Up to that time," she continued, '* metal alone had 
been employed in photography, but about 1850 sen- 
sitized paper began to be used, and the era of modern 
photography commenced. Since then, the art has been 
perfected in various ways, and it has become inti- 
mately connected with many sciences, especially physi- 
ology and astronomy. 

* ^ I wish to mention an important fact in connection 
with the part played by Americans in the develop- 
ment of photography. About the middle of last cen- 
tury Mathew Brady began a series of experiments in 
out-door photography, and later carried it out in prac- 
tice, on the outbreak of the Civil War. He accompanied 
the troops from place to place, and, for the first time in 
history, photographs were taken of the actual scenes 

296 



STORY OF THE CAMERA 



of the battlefields. Painters have frequently depicted 
memorable battles, but the scenes of the American 
Civil War alone live in a series of pictures of absolute 
fidelity to life. 

** Another important American development was 
the development of the ^ kodak' or hand camera, which 
first appeared in 1888. The first instrument was a rec- 
tangular box covered with black leather, six inches 
long. In one end was a round hole over which a shut- 
ter was operated by a push button and a spring wound 
up by a pull cord. In the recent forms, the cord has 
been abolished and the shutter is moved by a lever. 

*^That which led the way to the introduction of 
the kodak and the displacement of glass plates as a 
necessity in photography, was the invention of the 
^film.' This is a paper backing coated with soluble 
gelatine covered with a sensitive gelatine emulsion 
made insoluble by chrome alum, patented in 1884. This 
film is wound inside a backing of black paper upon the 
^carrying spool,' a flanged wooden cylinder, and the 
end fastened by a * gummed sticker. ' The ends of the 
black paper pass so far beyond the film that it is safely 
protected. This arrangement made possible daylight 
photography and practically revolutionized the art. 

*^The kodak has popularized photography. Its 
lightness especially recommends it. A cartridge of 
twelve exposures, 4x5 inches, weighs 2% ounces, while 
glass plates for the same picture would not be less 
than 3 pounds. Besides the cartridges are mailable 
and many may be developed at the same time, while 
for its protection each glass plate must be developed 
by itself. The films because of their orthochromatic 
and non-halation qualities, that is, freedom from * fog- 
ging' or blurring, due to the reflection of light rays 
from the back of the negative, have added to the pos- 
sibility of amateur photography. This is easily un- 

297 



WONDER STORIES 



derstood when it is considered that a plate is 19 times 
thicker than a film. 

*'The American kodak will take pictures from the 
size of a miniature up to 5x7 inches, and from two 
to twelve may be taken upon a film. The ' double two ' 
cartridge gives an opportunity to take two pictures, 
remove the roll which they have made, leaving the 
balance for the future, or take all four before removal. 
The camera boxes are made of wood and aluminum, 
and some, as in the case of the pocket kodaks, entirely 
of aluminum. A telescopic extension of the lens has 
reduced the thickness of the pocket camera to the size 
of the book. Some kodaks mil use either plates or 
films. Photographs are successfully taken with the 
tele-photo attachment. The instrument is capable of 
instantaneous, time exposure, landscape, portraiture, 
flash light, and panorama work. 

*^The kodak has played an important part in illus- 
trating war scenes. It was used in the war in Cuba, 
in South Africa, in the Philippines, in Korea and Man- 
churia. One of the great weeklies reports that 90% 
of the war pictures were upon films. The kodak does 
excellent work in tonality, correctness of line, and in 
composition. It is the solace of the traveler, it ideal- 
izes the commonplace and ordinary, and it perpetuates 
home life. It is essentially suited for the amateur, as, 
in connection with it was devised a new method of 
developing negatives, so that any persons may accom- 
plish what was once a work of very difficult attain- 
ment. In fact, all the means and appliances in con- 
nection ^vith the kodak are most simple and effective. 
To quote from a statement that has been made: ^Ko- 
daking is photography with the bother left out. ' This 
invention enriched the language with several new 
terms. Besides the name of the instrument, we have 
the verb, *to kodak.' The words * cartridge' and ^film' 

298 



STORY OF THE CAMERA 



have been given an added significance. *To shoot/ and 
*snap shot/ referring to the operation of the camera, 
have new meaning, and the term Ho develop' as well 
as the names of new photographic material all have 
given lis an idea of the sudden change in the meanings 
and uses of words that is possible in a language.'' 

*'Who was the inventor?" asked some one. 

*^ George Eastman," replied the Story-teller, ^^who 
was born in Waterville, Oneida County, N. Y., July 
12, 1854. He started experiments in photography, es- 
pecially with dry plates, and, in 1884, he invented the 
first pliable photographic film. As an instrument for 
its use became necessary, he devised the kodak camera 
and the developing innovations naturally followed. The 
introduction of the Eastman bromide papers made an- 
other new departure in photography. The first pic- 
tures from kodaks were about 2% inches in diameter 
and were developed in Rochester, N. Y. It was the 
kodak that gave rise to the phrase ^You press the 
button, we do the rest,' which had considerable prev- 
alence. In 1902 the kodak developing machine, en- 
abling the development of negatives in daytime, made 
an important improvement. The next year came the 
non-curling film, and about the same time the cartridge 
device and black paper backing. One American fac- 
tory devoted to the manufacture of films and like prod- 
ucts, covers 25 acres, called Kodak Park. It employs 
11,000 hands and has wholesale offices in England, 
Scotland, France, Germany, Austria, Russia, Italy, 
Australia, Canada, and in the United States at New 
York, Chicago, and San Francisco. The kodak, in fact, 
has leaped into popularity and overspread the world. 
It has made possible the wonders of modern photog- 
raphy. ' ' 



299 



THE STORY OF THE MATHEMATICIANS 
WHO COUNT OUR POPULATION 



THE business man sank wearily into a chair, say- 
ing: '^I am completely exhausted to-night. I 
have just finished the annual inventory of my 
property, figures are swimming before my eyes, and 
my hands are crippled by ^writer's cramp.' '' 

*^You ought to use the modern methods," said an- 
other Story-teller, whose eyes were shaded by eye- 
glasses and whose face bore a studious expression. 
*^Come to my office in the Census Bureau in Washing- 
ton, and I will show you the machinery which makes 
it possible for the Government to gather and digest and 
distribute broadcast nearly four billion facts relating 
to our more than 100,000,000 American population and 
all their activities." 

*'Can you tell us about it now?" cried a half dozen 
voices. 

**I will give you a brief description," the census 
man replied. *^But you must visit Washington and 
see for yourselves how we do it. Did you know that 
the United States was the first nation in the world 
to make a periodical enumeration of its population? 
And did you know that our last census has been pro- 
nounced the most wonderful and most stupendous 
handling of figures ever known? That our nation 
presents a phenomenon without a parallel in history 
is the opinion of the eminent French statistician, 
Moreau de Jonnes — 'that of a people who instituted 
the statistics of their country on the very day when 

300 



STORY OF THE CENSUS 



they founded their government, and who regulated 
by the same instrument the census of inhabitants, 
their civil and political rights, and the destinies of the 
nation. ' 

' ^ To-day the American Census Bureau is the great- 
est of its kind in the world. But it had humble be- 
ginnings. Our first official census in 1790 required but 
one question on one subject — that was, how many 
people live in the United States ? Although they were 
not required by law to do so, the enumerators also 
included among their questions those of color, sex, 
and the age of all males over 16. That census cost 
$44,000 and President Washington was able to report 
to Congress on March 3, 1792, that there were 3,929,214 
inhabitants. These published returns filled a 56-page 
volume. Just one hundred years later, the census 
takers made 13,000 inquiries upon thirty-one different 
subjects, and among other things found that our popu- 
lation had increased to 62,947,714 persons. These re- 
sults occupied 21,000 printed pages, and the total 
census cost about $12,000,000.'' 

^'How do you gather all those four billion facts 
you mentioned f asked some one. 

*^ Surely you haven't forgotten the month of April 
in 1910!" exclaimed the speaker. ^^ Don't you remem- 
ber that one of your fellow-townsmen came to your 
door and asked all kinds of questions about you and 
your family? Well, there were about 70,000 other in- 
quisitors doing the same in all parts of our domain. 
Nearly 330 others supervised their work. 

**That was only the preliminary work," the speaker 
continued. *^A11 of your answers were carefully noted 
by the enumerator and later found their way into 
the central office of the Census Bureau in Washing- 
ton. I wonder how our friend the manufacturer would 
feel to receive those schedules from over 100,000,000 

301 



WONDER STORIES 



people and y/as requested to find out from them how 
many married men and women there were in the coun- 
try, or how many farmers there were in, say, Missouri, 
over 16 years of age? 

*^Our paternal government is more inquisitive than 
Lot's wife. When it sends out its enumerators, it in- 
structs each one to ask twenty questions of every in- 
dividual in the country. That is only one subject. 
Then comes agriculture — the acreage of farms, im- 
proved and unimproved, the value, the owner or ren- 
ter, whether mortgaged, the value of farm machinery, 
stock and buildings, besides the crops, in fact about 
everything connected with the farming industry. The 
manufacturers and other industrial owners and man- 
agers are quizzed along the same lines. Then a census 
is taken of all dead persons, of persons defective in 
sight, hearing, or speech, of crime and criminals, of 
financial and social statistics of cities of over 30,000 
inhabitants — and scores of other questions too numer- 
ous to mention here. 

^^Each one of these inquiries represents a fact, and 
these total in the approximate aggregate, as I said 
before, about four billion. Can you conceive of any 
mortal, or a crew a thousand strong, being able to 
sit down with a pencil and reams of paper and digest- 
ing these facts and totaling them before it is time to 
take another census? We have found that it is im- 
possible by old-fashioned methods. 

*' Still, we are able to analyze this tremendous 
amount of statistics in the time allowed, and for this 
miracle — it is, indeed, a miracle — we are indebted to 
the genius of an American, a former employee in the 
Census Bureau, Dr. Herman Hollerith. This genius 
invented two wonderful machines which are equipped 
with steel brains and are operated by electricity. 

* * They are wizards ! ' ' exclaimed the speaker. ^ ^ One 

302 



STORY OF THE CENSUS 



machine, the ^puncher,' which resembles a typewriter, 
will take each and every fact about the person noted 
on the big schedule sheet filled up by the enumerator 
and records those facts by series of holes punched 
through a card not much larger than your open hand. 
Another machine will take these cards and not only 
count the cards — each one represents an individual — 
but intelligently separates the facts into many differ- 
ent groups and sums up the totals of those groups. 

^ ' They to all intents and purposes think, and think 
more accurately and quickly than a human being can. 
When you come to Washington, just follow one of 
those schedule sheets and the record card; you will 
witness miracles that excel those of the alchemists 
of the Middle Ages. The schedule goes to the ^puncher,' 
where the operator presses down those keys of the 
machine which correspond with facts on the sheet. 
All possible inquiries have their symbol keys. For 
instance, ^Wf^ indicates wife, *F^ the sex, ^25' the 
age, *W' the color, ^M' married, ^Mo' place of resi- 
dence, ^ Ger ' place of birth — and so on until all facts are 
recorded. This done, the operator pushes a button on 
the machine which releases the electric power that 
simultaneously punches those record holes through the 
record card lying within the machine. 

*^This machine does the work which was formerly 
performed by twelve clerks, and it makes no mistakes. 
It will perform as many as a thousand different group- 
ings of the facts in the one operation, if that many 
groupings are desired. 

^^The next operation is the sorting of the record 
cards by an electrical device by which cards with 
holes indicating what they represent, for instance, 
native white persons, are segregated from those rep- 
resenting the foreign born whites and from those rep- 
resenting negroes. Similarly, the cards can be sorted 

303 



WONDER STORIES 



by sex, age, marital condition, or thousands of other 
characteristics. 

'^But the real wizard," said the census man, ^'is 
the tabulating machine, which lays claim to the title 
by doing not only what formerly it required thousands 
of clerks to do in the old way, but by doing the work 
in a period shorter by ten times. And not only that, 
but this marvelous electrical genius is able to do what 
the thousands of clerks under the old regime were 
never able to find time to attempt to do. 

*^The machine as a whole resembles a roll-top desk. 
On the table part rest two brass plates hinged so that 
the upper plate can be raised at right angles to the 
other. Where the pigeonholes of an ordinary desk 
would be, are many little dials, sometimes as many 
as eighty to a machine. The clerk takes the record 
card and places it upon the lower plate, which has 
tiny holes half-filled with mercury and corresponding 
in position to each symbol printed upon the record 
card. The operator then closes the upper plate upon 
the card, and needles, corresponding in number and 
position to the holes on the lower plate and the sym- 
bols upon the card, begin to drop. Of course, where 
there is no opening in the card, the needles cannot 
penetrate into the mercury cups — but, where there are 
holes, they do go through and form an electric circuit 
when they enter the mercury. As by magic, each 
pointer on the dials moves forward one space and 
registers or counts one for each hole in the card. 

^*The machine is uncanny in its intelligence. It 
will tell you, accurately and quickly, whether marriage 
is more fashionable and children more numerous in 
one state or another. When the cards are being 
counted by the machine, they are also distributed ac- 
cording to any desired grouping. Say you want to 
separate the cards according to states. The operator 

304 



STORY OF THE CENSUS 



adjusts his machine, and, as the needle thrusts through 
the hole on the card, say, for New York State, the 
metal cover of the New York compartment in a box 
standing at the operator's elbow flies open to receive 
the card, after which it closes automatically. This 
box contains compartments for all the states — or by 
changing the labels on the boxes they can be made into 
compartments dividing up the earth into countries. 

^'All this sounds complicated," said the census 
man, apologetically, '^and looks as though it must re- 
quire a great deal of time to count, tabulate, add, and 
group a half dozen cards. But it doesn't. The aver- 
age operator can perform all those mathematical feats 
at the rate of 3,500 cards an hour, or about 23,000 
a census office working day, which consists of six and 
a half hours. There are some twenty facts to each 
card — so that means that we can count, tabulate, add, 
and group on one machine more than 450,000 facts 
every working day. 

^'That is the reason,'' said the census man, in con- 
clusion, 'Hhat we of the modern generation can take 
inventory of the entire nation and its multitudinous 
activities and details and within a comparatively short 
time answer almost any question you ask us about 
Americans — for instance, how many lady blacksmiths 
or lady preachers there are in our nation." 

''How many are there?" shouted some one. 

The Story-teller picked up a red-bound book and, 
after a momentary search, replied: 

''Exactly 193 of the former in 1900, and 3,373 of 
the latter in the same year!" 



305 



THE STORY OF THE DIVER WHO 

WALKS ON THE BOTTOM OF 

THE SEA 



(( 



I 



DOUBT/' remarked a gaunt, weather-beaten 
man, who had hitherto spoken little, ''whether 
any of you would care to take my job." The 
curiosity of the audience was aroused at once. 

''Would you like to hear my story?" he continued. 
*'I'm a worker in Davy Jones' locker, if you know 
what that is. I am a diver. I work amongst dead 
men, with no other companions than the fish, who 
make themselves sociable enough in all conscience, 
staring inquisitively through the eye windows of my 
helmet and nibbling at my fingers, as if they were bait. 
I am sent down to examine wrecks and to recover 
bodies and treasure. I've seen plenty of strange 
things, but nothing to what I might see if it were not 
for one thing — the pressure of the water. 

"Even at the depth at which we generally work, 
about 30 to 100 feet, we have to be weighted down, 
to resist this pressure, which is reckoned at about a 
ton to the square inch in every 6,000 feet. At 15,000 
feet — nearly half the depth of the ocean at its deepest 
point — the pressure is equal to that of 30 locomotive 
engines." 

"What is the greatest depth of the sea!" asked 
one of the audience. 

"Exactly 31,614 feet, or just 66 feet short of six 
miles," answered the diver. "If Mount Everest, the 
highest mountain in the world, were sunk at that 

306 



STORY OF THE DEEP SEA 



point, which is in the Pacific Ocean, near our posses- 
sion of Guam, it would have nearly half a mile of 
water over it. 

*'The bottom of the ocean is a practically un- 
explored wonderland. The temperature is icy cold, 
and no ray of sunlight ever penetrates. The pressure 
of the water, of which I have spoken, is enormous 
there. You may wonder whether any life can exist un- 
der such conditions. 

* ' Our know^ledge of deep sea life is very imperfect. 
But we may say that the ocean depths are the refuge 
of the failures in the great battle of existence, which 
goes on as relentlessly in the water as on land. The 
fish which have been driven down by their stronger 
rivals are for the most part, curious, uncouth crea- 
tures. Nature, indeed, seems to have run riot in the 
production of these strange monsters. She seems to 
have lost all sense of proportion. Some of them are 
all body; some are all mouth. Some eel-like species 
have jaws longer than the entire extent of the trunk. 
The black swallower, like many of its kind, has a 
stomach that is enormously distensible. A specimen 
has been brought to the surface containing within its 
paunch the body of a much larger fish which it had 
swallowed. 

''Some of the deep-sea fishes seem to be enlarged 
reproductions of smaller fishes of the same species 
which exist in shallower waters. The monocaulus, 
which is ordinarily from two to three inches in length, 
attains a length of three feet below the depth of two 
thousand fathoms, as though this were the habitat 
best suited to its development. Most of the fishes 
taken at great depths have been comparatively small, 
but it is surmised that, with enlarged dredge nets, 
greater ones may be taken. A 'ribbon-fish' twenty- 
four feet long has been captured. The organs of these 

307 



WONDER STORIES 



fish have become adapted to their new conditions. 
Thus, down to a certain depth their eyes have become 
greatly enlarged, to make the best of the scanty rays 
of light that may penetrate there. Lower down the 
eyes are still further enlarged, or in some species they 
disappear and are replaced by enormously long feelers. 
But at the very bottom Nature, as though weary of 
darkness and ugliness, peoples these regions with 
things of beauty and illuminates them with a brilliant 
blaze of light.'' 

A slight exclamation of astonishment came from 
the auditors. 

**You are naturally surprised,'' said the Story- 
teller. *^If you could only descend to those abysmal 
depths, you would find yourselves in a veritable fairy- 
land. You would see their denizens glowing with 
phosphorescent light. Some of them have two parallel 
rows of small, circular phosphorescent organs running 
along the whole length of their bodies. The shellfish 
glow with light, and the corals emit a soft glimmer. 
There are forms of exquisite beauty and rich coloring, 
all brilliantly lit up. Here a sea lily rears it grace- 
ful head, there a dainty creature in the form of an 
electric light bulb diffuses radiance. Strange to say, all 
these creatures can resist the enormous pressure of the 
water about them, and cannot live in lesser depths. 

'*Did you ever hear of anything falling upward f 
Some deep-sea fish get killed that way. They are pro- 
vided with air-inflated swimming bladders, and if one 
of them chance, in chasing its prey, to ascend too high, 
its bladder becomes distended with the decreased pres- 
sure and carries it still higher, with fatal consequences. 

^^What does the bed of the ocean look like? Mostly 
like a vast plain, but here and there are mountains of 
quite respectable size. The first of these mountains 
was discovered in 1832, and many have been located 

308 



STORY OF THE DEEP SEA 



since. There is not a trace of a sunken ship or of a 
drowned man. A thick, bluish slime covers everything. 
And here is another of Nature's surprises. This ooze 
consists, as may be seen under the microscope, of a 
mass of exquisitely formed shells ! 

*^Did you know," asked the diver, **that there are 
rivers under the ocean? In some parts of the world 
springs of fresh water rise from the ocean bed; in 
other parts they flow under the sea until they come to 
the surface on some island. The crew of a cable ship 
were once surprised to find, near Cape Verde, swamp 
vegetation continually rising to the surface. It was 
afterward discovered that a small river in West 
Africa, which disappears in a fresh water swamp, finds 
its way by an underground channel into the Atlantic, 
to which it conveys this vegetation. 

* * The charting of the ocean, ' ' exclaimed the Story- 
teller, *4s a mighty task and one worthy of an Amer- 
ican sailor. Captain Matthew Fontaine Maury had 
made a hobby of collecting sailors' logs, and the pro- 
posals which he made for the systematic investigation 
of the ocean's wonders were placed before two inter- 
national congresses held at Brussels and London, in 
1853 and 1873. The Hydrographic Office at Wash- 
ington was interested in furthering deep-sea explora- 
tion, and by the year 1888 had collected 3,800 logs, 
with 3,200,000 entries, containing amongst other ma- 
terial a number of interesting facts and data relating 
to the depths of the ocean. 

^'Like every other science, this one required the 
development of mechanical means for its pursuit. 
Captain Maury replaced the hempen lines which had 
been used for sounding with strong twine to the end 
of which a cannon shot was attached. When the bot- 
tom was reached the twine was cut, and the depth was 
estimated from what remained. In 1855 Maury made 

309 



WONDER STORIES 



the first chart of the depths of the Atlantic between 
latitude 52 north and latitude 10 south. 

^'The laying of the ocean cables gave an impetus 
to the study of the ocean bed. America has the honor 
of having both inaugurated this study and of having 
produced the largest number of discoveries. The 
United States Coast Survey has had vessels engaged 
upon this work since 1870, and the United States Fish 
Commission has not lagged behind. In 1900 the Fish 
Commission's steamship Albatross brought back the 
largest number of deep-sea specimens ever taken. 
Nearly six thousand soundings were made, and two 
thousand hauls taken with the dredge from Newfound- 
land to Behring Sea, along the American shores, and 
also off Japan and in the Pacific. The dredge, or beam 
trawl, I may tell you, consists of an iron frame, to 
which is attached a bag twenty feet long. Fishes, sea- 
urchins, starfish, squids, coral growths — all are meat 
to the dredge. The Albatross took ten hours to haul 
up one collection from a depth of 4,173 fathoms. 

^^ There are also the 'tangle,' consisting of bunches 
of shredded rope attached to iron bars, for scooping up 
samples of the sea's bed, and the gill-net. The gill- 
net is so devised that fishes which swim into it are 
caught by the gills and imprisoned there. The 
Albatross caught fish with a net set a depth of a mile. 

*'But we are only at the beginning of deep-sea ex- 
ploration," said the diver, in conclusion. ''Who knows 
but that we may in the near future discover all kinds 
of monsters in those awful ocean depths? Perhaps 
the famed Leviathan may be taking his pastime 
therein. Perhaps the veritable Sea-serpent may be 
causing havoc among the lesser fry. At any rate it is 
a field full of alluring possibilities." 



310 




Copyright bj' Underwood & Underwood. 



SOLVING THE PROBLEM OF LONG LIFE 

Visit to the laboratory of Dr. Alexis Carrel, while he is making a microscopic 

examination into the creative forces of life. His wonderful discovery 

that living tissues and organs could be transplanted to take 

the places of diseased members, brought the Nobel 

prize to America for the first time. — See page 260. 



THE STORY OF THE PLOWMAN AS 
HE DROPS HIS SEED IN RICH EARTH 



" \ NATION without a plow is like a house built 

Jy^ on sand — it will crumble into decay.'' The 

words of the speaker, a modern Cincinnatus, 

mighty in limbs and body and with keen, flashing eyes, 

shaded by shaggy brows, challenged the Story-tellers. 

*^It is the plow that tells the story of civilization 
more eloquently than any other agency having to do 
with the building of nations," he declared. *^ Hindoo 
legends, the writings of the Vedic bards, say that the 
ancient Acvins taught its use to Mantu, the first man. 
The Egyptians say that Osiris, the son of Leb (the 
earth) was the inventor. 

**Many nations have glorified the plow in religion 
and legend. None, perhaps, more poetically than the 
Hindoos, when they celebrate Sita, the spouse of 
Rama, rising brown and beauteous, from the plowed 
field. She is herself the furrow (Sita) personified. 

^*It probably will surprise you to know that, in 
this age of American forty-gang plows drawn by ma- 
chinery, the ancient plow of Babylonians and Egyp- 
tians still turns the furrow in various parts of the 
world. The ancient forked stick, drawn by camels or 
oxen, still plows the plains of Sharon, outside of Pal- 
estine, just as a similar instrument turns the earth in 
the highlands of Mexico, or even on the farms of Mo- 
have Indians in our own Southwest. 

**But my story has to do with the modern plow. 
There are legions of American plowmen, probably 
21 311 



WONDER STORIES 



10,000,000, who go into the fields every spring and 
with their modern plows turn up empires of rich 
earth. What a mighty army of modern Israel Put- 
nams they would make! And probably among their 
number could be found a leader to equal the states- 
manship and battlefield strategy of that Eoman far- 
mer-statesman, Cincinnatus. 

**In the decade preceding the beginning of the 
American Civil War American plowmen were mostly 
using the English wooden moldboard plow, equipped 
with an iron point. At that time they were plowing 
an area of land which was larger than the entire coim- 
try of Sweden. Sixty years later, or in 1910, the era 
of modern plows had dawned, and our plowmen were 
turning over every year an area four times greater, 
or nearly as large as the whole of Mexico. Our crops 
in that time increased from about $2,000,000,000 to 
nearly $10,000,000,000. That is the magic of the mod- 
ern plow, without which these tremendous crops 
could never have been planted. 

^* Modern American genius has improved the plow 
in two ways — ^in the method of drawing it, and in the 
form of the implement itself. It was an American, 
Charles Newbold, a native of New Jersey, who began 
the evolution of the plow from its old-time wooden 
moldboard, shod with iron, in 1797. He devised a cast- 
iron plowshare, with wooden beam and handles. It 
was the first step forward, but did not meet with favor 
because, when the point wore out, the whole share had 
to be replaced, entailing great expense. 

*^The plow has had eminent disciples. Ancient 
kings and statesmen have operated them and studied 
their defects with a view of improving them. The dis- 
tinguished Thomas Jefferson, even while he per- 
formed the duties of Vice-president of the nation un- 
der Washington, in 1798, studied the plow from scien- 

312 



STORY OF THE PLOWMAN 



tific standpoints and published his discoveries in re- 
lation to moldboards in that year. While Perry was 
defeating the British ships on Lake Erie, another 
American, Richard Chenaworth of Baltimore, made 
the next step forward in plow-making, improving 
upon Newbold^s plow by casting the point and mold- 
board in separate parts. 

*^Two years before the first complete railroad 
joined the Mississippi with the Atlantic, the real se- 
cret of the plow had been discovered. This genius 
was the American, James Oliver, of Indiana, who be- 
gan, in the year 1855, to manufacture his famous 
chilled iron plow, which successfully resisted the 
wearing power of the earth and automatically scoured 
itself, as it passed under the ground. 

^^The plowman is a sympathetic individual. He 
had witnessed the hard toil of his animals, when they 
pulled the plow, and tried to lessen the labor. The 
first effort was to harness steam power to it, the first 
plow of this kind appearing in 1769, the invention of 
Francis More. Nearly a century later, in 1844, ap- 
peared the first patented * sulky plow,' invented by H. 
Brown and consisting simply of a plow mounted on 
wheels and drawn by horses. It was the beginning 
of a new era in plowing, for it made possible the use 
of revolving discs in place of the share. They are in- 
genious machines, cutting into the ground, raising the 
loosened earth, turning it over, and pulverizing it as 
it falls. Simultaneously metal pieces scrape the earth 
from the discs to prevent their clogging. 

** While Grant was besieging Petersburg in the 
American Civil War, the first steam plow was oper- 
ated in America. It consisted simply of a steam en- 
gine standing stationary in a field, drawing the plow 
back and forth by ropes attached and traveling over 
a drum. Next another genius conceived the idea of 

313 



WONDER STORIES 



bringing the road-roller into the field, or an engine 
similar to it. To this the plows, either moldboard or 
disc, were attached. Two plows were used first, and 
then more added, until ten, twenty, and even thirty 
plows were hauled by one engine cutting parallel fur- 
rows across the field. Then the climax was reached 
when recently forty-four plows were attached and 
turned up the same number of furrows in any kind of 
soil. This mighty machine, operated by only two men, 
can do more work than was done formerly by forty- 
four men and eighty-eight horses. It travels at the 
average rate of twenty-five miles a day. 

*^This is the wonderful machine which has made 
possible the vast wheat fields of Western America. 
In the springtime it is an inspiring sight to look upon 
the monster ^caterpillar,' as it is familiarly called, 
starting to turn a 30,000-acre field. It often performs 
three operations at once. Behind the tractor engine 
come the plows, steadily performing their work, while 
attached behind them are modern harrows to smooth 
the upturned earth, and behind the harrows come the 
mechanical seeders, dropping the grain in the fur- 
row. ' ' 

The plowman hesitated. 

**Now that you know my story," he said, *^I trust 
that whenever you see a plowman in the fields you 
will remember that these are the men who turn the 
sod for the planting of the seeds that sustain civiliza- 
tion. Whether he walks behind a hand plow in the 
furrow, or rides the great, groaning steam plows of 
the modern days, the plowman always has been and 
always will be a mighty man." 



314 



THE STORY OF THE REAPER IN THE 
EMPIRE OF GOLDEN GRAIN 



THE agriculturist, as tie stood before the seated 
Story-tellers, appeared like the reincarnation 
of Hercules. His massive head, crowned with a 
silvery thatch of hair, rested upon broad, powerful 
shoulders. His mighty thighs and brawny arms gave 
hints of great strength. 

^^My story, the story of reaping,'' he said, ** begins 
at the threshold of humanity. Poets have sung its 
praise, painters have immortalized it on canvas, kings 
have created empires and kingdoms upon it — and the 
masses have lived upon it since the Garden of Eden. 

' ' Cain and Abel probably were the pioneer reapers 
and they have been followed by countless millions 
through the succeeding generations. They began the 
song of the reaper, which has swelled in our modern 
generation into a full-throated chorus, an anthem of 
the harvest in the food-fields of the world. 

**The modern American reaper is as unlike the 
reaper of Biblical times, and earlier, as the wooden- 
wheeled ox-cart is unlike the twentieth century loco- 
motive. The sickle of those days has been replaced 
by mighty combined harvesting and threshing ma- 
chines. Without these modern harvesting machines, 
our nation wouM be a land of small rural districts — 
our mighty cities could scarcely exist." 

** Isn't that a broad claim?" inquired one skeptic. 

^^Not at all," calmly replied the speaker. ^^You 
only have to refer to our own history for the evidence. 

315 



WONDER STORIES 



At the beginning of the nineteenth century, when our 
modern farm machinery was not known, 97 per cent 
of the Americans were compelled to work farms to 
raise enough food for themselves and stock. Then 
there were only six cities with populations of over 
8,000 souls. One century later, through our modern 
farm machinery, only 37 per cent of the Americans 
were required to work the farms, and they were pro- 
ducing not only ten bushels of wheat for every Amer- 
ican, but were also able to export farm products val- 
ued at $950,000,000. The remaining 63 per cent of our 
population, released from farm work by modern ma- 
chinery, were able to live and work in the urban dis- 
tricts, and, at the close of the century, had reared 484 
cities, each of whose populations exceeded 8,000 
people. 

^'That is the magic of modern farm machinery. 
Our forefathers cut their grain with the sickle, just 
as mankind had been doing since the beginning of 
agriculture. Some used the scythe, introduced to agri- 
culture by the Romans. They all separated the ker- 
nel from the stalk with a flail, a method still in use in 
those countries which have not adopted the modem 
American machinery. I am reminded of that mighty 
American Hercules, who, in 1857, leveled, with a 
scythe which cut a swath 11 feet wide and 5 feet deep 
with each stroke, twelve and a half acres of grain in 
one day — the world's record, so far as is known. You 
will appreciate this mighty feat when I say that the 
average reaper usually cut between three and four 
acres in a day ; and also that it kept four men busy for 
two days to bind up the 4,380 sheaves which the giant 
Teaper had cut between sunrise and sunset. These 
sheaves yielded 262 bushels of grain. 

** To-day we have machines which not only perform 
ten times the work of the mighty reaper of 1857, but 

316 



STORY OF THE REAPER 



also thresh, winnow, bind the straw in sheaves, and 
deposit the cleaned kernels in bags ready to be sewed 
up by hand. Their capacities are about 2,000 bushels 
a day, and they can harvest between 100 and 150 acres 
of land. 

*^The first practical reaping machine had its birtH 
down on a small farm in Rockbridge County, in Vir- 
ginia. On this same farm, Robert McCormick had 
attempted to solve the problem, but it remained for 
his son, Cyrus H. McCormick, to make the first prac- 
tical machine, in 1831. Though crude in workman- 
ship, it embraced all the essential features of the mod- 
ern machine — the divider to separate the standing 
grain from that to be cut, the revolving reel to press 
the grain against the cutting blades, and the platform 
between the two wheels on w^hich the sheaves fell, 
ready to be bound by hand. 

*^At this time, that other great machine, the 
thresher, was in its formative stage, being known as 
the Aground hog' thresher. Six years after the birth 
of the reaper, the Maine inventors, Hiram and John 
Pitts, patented their machine of endless belts and 
beaters, which separated the grain from the straw and 
chaff and cleaned it. This was improved upon by 
Cyrus Roberts, of Illinois, in 1856, and it is this ma- 
chine which embraces the chief features of the modern 
machine. 

*^The third great harvesting machine, the auto- 
matic twine-binding harvester, was the invention of 
John F. Appleby, of Wisconsin, and appeared about 
the year 1880. To-day these three wonderful ma- 
chines are combined into one and are harvesting the 
great grain fields of the Pacific Slope, while the same 
machines, as separate units, are traveling in batteries 
of twenty to forty over the wheatfields of the Dakotas 
and mid-Western states. 

317 



WONDER STORIES 



**It is an inspiring sight to watch the harvest of 
wheat in the San Joaquin Valley of California, for in- 
stance. Yellow as gold, with the sheen of the sea, the 
field billows from sky-line to sky-line. Here comes 
the huge combination harvester, either drawn by a 
modern tractor engine or scores of horses. In the lat- 
ter case, the driver is perched upon what seems to 
be a ladder thrust at right angles from the ground and 
out over the horses' backs. At the right side of the 
machine is seen flashing in the sunlight what appears 
like a frail, old-fashioned mill wheel, but is in reality 
the revolving reel which captures the grain and holds 
it until the knives have performed their work. Under 
the reel is an endless belt, which receives the cut grain 
and conveys it into the mysterious interior of the ma- 
chine, where it is threshed, cleaned, and poured into 
sacks. The chaff and straw pass in another direction. 
Thus the machine goes, cutting a swath fourteen feet 
wide, performing the work of 150 horses under old- 
time conditions, and leveling each acre of wheat at the 
average cost of fifty cents — a fraction of the cost by 
old-fashioned methods. 

'*The farm machinery and implements in the 
United States represented in 1912 an investment of 
over $1,000,000,000 — a sum sufficient to pay the ex- 
penses of running the entire government for a year. 

**The plowman spoke a parting word for his fel- 
low-workers," remarked the reaper. **Let me ask 
your consideration for the harvester. He is the man 
who garners the crops and fills our storehouses to 
overflowing. We should not forget to pay him hom- 



age." 



:^'! 2 



THE STORY OF POWER AND THE 
MEN WHO HARNESSED NIAGARA 



A POWERFULLY built man, with a heavy jaw, 
and shoulders like a giant, aroused the curiosity 
of the Story-tellers. Every line in his face, and 
every movement of his body, denoted physical force 
and night. 

^ 'Power !'^ he ejaculated. '^ That's what moves the 
world along — power !'* 

The words were spoken with such grufeess that 
one almost fancied that the walls trembled. 

* 'What is it that turns the wheels of our factories ? ' ' 
he exclaimed. ''What is it that runs our railroads, 
that moves our ships, that stands behind every step of 
human progress? It is man's ability to produce that 
which we call power. In the early years he took it out 
of the winds ; then he took it out of the rivers ; in later 
days he has been digging it out of the earth in the little 
black nuggets that we call 'coal.' Through this, he 
has created steam, gas, and electric power for our 
machinery and our domestic appliances. But in about 
five hundred years the world will be without coal — 
then what shall we do?" 

The huge fellow struck the table with his fist in 
emphasis. 

"Strange to say," he exclaimed, "we shall not even 
miss it. For we have already found a substitute that 
is inexhaustible — ^water. What! water take the place 
of coal? Yes, sir, common, everyday water. There is 
power enough in our rivers and lakes to keep the world 

319 



WONDER STORIES 



going for ages. This wonderful chapter in the long 
story of man's conquest of Nature is just beginning. 
We are setting water to work for us ; we are turning 
its energy into power that we can use in a thousand 
ways for thousands of years." 

*^What can we do with water?" he asked, and then, 
answering his own question, replied, ''Anything and 
everything! With this power we can generate elec- 
tricity; and thereby we can do all that we have been 
doing by means of coal, and many new things that the 
minds of men will conceive. 

''Let us look at this map of the United States," he 
said, unrolling a long canvas. "Note the rivers, great 
and small, threading their way everywhere through 
the land. The force hidden in those rivers alone is 
equal to about twenty-five million horse-power. When 
we say 'horse-power,' we assume that one horse can 
raise 33,000 pounds one foot per minute. Now, ten 
million such horses could run all the manufacturing 
establishments in the United States. So it is unneces- 
sary for me to prove to you that they could easily be 
carried on by the water power of the country. 

"All we need to do is to harness our rivers — and 
that is an easy task. You will understand that water 
power, in order to be of use, must be concentrated by 
violent motion. In many cases. Nature provides this 
process. One of the most notable instances is Niagara 
Falls. The idea of 'harnessing Niagara' is startling 
at first — it sounds almost sacrilegious. A great out- 
cry arose when it was suggested that its waters be util- 
ized for commercial purposes. The vision evoked of a 
Niagara run dry astounded the Americans. It is ex- 
actly what is said to have been foretold ages ago by 
an Indian — ^that one day the waters would vanish and 
expose the bare shelf of rock to view. 

"The power of Niagara is almost beyond compre- 

320 



STORY OF POWER 



liension. It pours over the falls twenty-five niillion 
tons of water every hour. This power would be suf- 
ficient to run all the trains in the country, light all the 
towns and villages, conduct our telephone and tele- 
graph service, turn all our spinning wheels, and oper- 
ate our three greatest industries — all at the same 
time. The power of Niagara is equal to the powder 
that can be generated from all the coal taken from our 
mines in a day, the power of seven million, five hun- 
dred thousand horses. By agreement between the 
United States and Canada, the amount of water to be 
diverted from Niagara has been limited to 56,000 cubic 
feet a second. This, without diminishing appreciably 
the flow of the cataract, will provide power equal to 
that of 14,000,000 tons of coal, which it requires 30,000 
miners, working for a year, to take out. 

*^The idea of ^harnessing Niagara' is one of the 
most astounding in the annals of man, because it is 
the solution of the great problem of the future. It 
was on October 4, 1890, that the work began. The 
first step was to excavate a tunnel 200 feet below the 
city of Niagara Falls. The tunnel is 7,481 feet long; 
the interior dimensions are 21 feet by 18% feet. It 
required the excavating of 300,000 tons of rock. Six- 
teen million bricks were used in the lining. 

^^How is Niagara made to yield its vast power f 
On the principle of the old mill wheel, only that the 
water passes through enormous generators that pro- 
duce electricity. The water is taken through a canal, 
screened to exclude floating ice and debris, to the gen- 
erating station. The electrical energy here generated 
is transmitted to a distributing station. From this 
station immense cables convey the power to various 
points. 

'^Imagine, as you gaze at the majestic waterfall 
rushing in its eternal course, that its power — ^its very 

321 



WONDER STORIES 



spirit, as it were — is lighting the lamps and moving 
the street cars 160 miles away in Syracuse. All around 
the Falls, on both the Canadian and American sides, 
a large manufacturing district has sprung up, evoked 
by the magic power of these waters. Niagara's power 
is applied to-day to everything, from great steel shops 
and trolley cars to ventilating fans and sewing ma- 
chines. The influence of the mighty waterfall has ex- 
tended farther than you may imagine. It has driven 
out disease. In the old days cutlery was a dangerous 
trade. A third of its operators were affected with tu- 
bercular troubles. Niagara brought about the abrasive 
wheel, which has made the trade healthful. It also 
has brought about the acetylene process, in which, 
when a fourteen-inch propeller on a war vessel breaks 
in two, it is welded perfectly in 36 hours, an opera- 
tion which formerly would have taken six weeks. 
These two things, the abrasive wheel and acetylene, 
are the product of the modern electric furnace — and 
the modern electric furnace has been evolved from 
the water-power of Niagara Falls. In this way, its 
power is making itself felt all over the land, and to the 
ends of the earth, with a vastness and complexity of 
operations that are bewildering. 

*^But Niagara has only set the example, a stupen- 
dous example, of the use of water power. All over 
the country great rivers have been harnessed; their 
mighty force is being gathered in power plants and 
distributed for the needs of industry and agriculture. 
The water power in actual service in the United 
States is now doing the work every year of 33,000,000 
tons of coal. Its possibilities are vastly increased by 
the introduction of long distance transmission of elec- 
tricity. You need not move to the power-plant — it 
stretches out its arms to you. It can cover, by its net- 
work of transmitters, an area of 100,000 square miles. 

322 



STORY OF POWER 



And, in transmission, there is a loss of only 10 per 
cent of power in a thousand miles. ^' 

*^What will this wonderful power do for the 
world f asked one of the listeners. 

^'It wdll reconstruct the world," answered the 
speaker. ' ^ It will provide the smallest towns with the 
most up-to-date conveniences. It will link together 
the scattered cities by a network of interurban trol- 
ley lines. It will bring the farmer and market to- 
gether. It will, in short, revolutionize the social, in- 
dustrial, and agricultural life of the country." 

**The rivers are already obeying the behests of 
man and performing his work," interrupted another, 
**but what of the mighty ocean itself?" 

*^That is to be the greatest story of all," exclaimed 
the Story-teller. **The energy expended in the rise 
and fall of the tides is something incalculable — almost 
infinite. The sea could do all the world's work easily 
many times over, if its forces could only be utilized. ' ' 

**Can we utilize them?" 

^^ Science says, *yes.' This will come so soon as 
we can perfect certain apparatus already designed. A 
start has been made. An electric lamp has been in- 
vented to glow with power derived from the waves. 
A small beginning has been made recently in harness- 
ing the Atlantic. It is merely in the experimental 
stage at present; but it only needs the construction 
of a similar apparatus on a sufficiently extensive 
scale to impress Father Neptune into our service. It 
is not improbable that the day is not very far off when 
the tides will run our factories, light our homes, and 
operate our railways." 



32 



o 



THE STORY OF THE PHYSICIST WHO 
IS HARNESSING THE SUN 



"^TMIIS is the moment when my story should be 

Jl told/' said the young physicist. ^'We have 
listened to all these marvelous tales of steam, 
electricity, water, and the other forces of nature, but 
do you realize that the greatest source of all power 
is directly over our heads? What unimaginable en- 
ergy is going to waste every day in the heat of the 
sun! Can we not use that?" 

The physicist looked about his audience to see 
what effect his suggestion might make upon them. 

^'My good friend, the astronomer,'' he said, ^*has 
told us a wonderful story about the sun. Now I am 
going to tell you how we intend to make the sun go to 
work for us. I predict that before the end of this cen- 
tury, we will harness the sun's rays." 

*^Have we not already harnessed them!" inter- 
rupted a listener. 

'^We have just slipped the first belt over the sun- 
beams," replied the young scientist. *^That xs the 
story I am going to tell you — ^how an American has 
commanded the earnest attention of science by put- 
ting the sun to work in the land of the Pharaohs. If, 
as Napoleon said, forty centuries look down from the 
Pyramids, they must be looking on in amazement. 
The ancient East is learning something startling from 
the new far West. 

^*In Tacony, a suburb of Philadelphia," he began, 
*^ there is an inventor who has worked for years on 

324 



STORY OF THE SOLAR ENGINE 

the problem of * harnessing the sun.' This has been 
the dream of many inventors, but in the end it has 
produced nothing but costly toys, until this man, 
named Shuman, tried it. He decided to make the sun 
do some of the world's work, and do it economically. 

*^ Marvelous as it may seem, his efforts have been 
crowned with success. He set up a * sun-power plant' 
in Tacony, which gave a practical demonstration of 
its capabilities. For months his solar engine pumped 
3,400 gallons a minute to a height of 36 feet. The 
Egyptian Government heard of this wonderful inven- 
tion in America. They thought it might be a useful 
thing for their country, where most of the heat of the 
sun goes to woeful waste. The sun's chief occupation 
in Egypt for untold ages has been baking the earth; 
it would now, they thought, have a chance of repair- 
ing some of the damage. 

**So expert commissioners were sent to America 
to examine the wonderful plant. Their report was so 
satisfactory that the government ordered a solar 
engine and put it to work forthwith. Other nations 
followed, and orders for engines poured in from all 
quarters of the globe. It was found necessary to set 
up a, sun-power plant factory in Philadelphia — and it 
is only a question of time before the Sun will have to 
surrender. ' ' 

**What precisely does the solar engine do?" in- 
quired the astronomer. 

"It generates steam, just as a fire does," replied 
the physicist. **But it has the advantage of getting 
its fuel free; so that, although the initial installation 
is expensive, it can be rnin very cheaply. It is a great 
discovery — far greater than we realize at present. Its 
use will revolutionize conditions in many parts of the 
world. I believe that ten per cent of the earth's land 
surface will eventually depend upon sun power for all 

325 



WONDER STORIES 



mechanical operations. It will be used chiefly in re- 
gions where great natural powers do not exist, and is 
only available where there is a steady supply of sun- 
shine. 

* * The capacity of the solar engine used in Egypt is 
shown by the fact that it can perform the work of a 
thousand laborers in the annual pumping of water 
during the dry season, which employs a hundred thou- 
sand men. When these solar engines get to work in 
the Sahara Desert, its name will become a misnomer. 
It will become a veritable hive of industry, a vast col- 
ony of factories. For the Sahara receives (and 
wastes) every day an amount of solar heat equal to 
that produced by six billion tons of coal ; and consider 
the prodigious number of factories that this amount of 
coal could run. It could allow a thousand tons a day 
to six million of them. 

**We may live to see all the dreary deserts, that 
now stretch their unprofitable length over the map, 
turned into huge industrial areas. In the past, even 
the most enterprising have regarded a desert a hope- 
less proposition ; but the future will change all that. 

**Many other schemes are afloat for putting the in- 
exhaustible forces of Nature to work for us. The 
mighty power of the winds has been used for ages to 
turn mills; but already experiments have been made 
in employing it in a more scientific way. 

**Then again, it has been suggested that we might 
utilize the interior heat of the earth. There assuredly 
must be plenty of it, considering that it increases one 
degree for every 60 feet of depth. But, in this matter, 
we are warned to be careful. For, in drawing off the 
earth's heat, we should be accelerating the cooling 
process of the earth, and so hastening its extinction — 
perhaps by a few million years. 

**It would not be surprising if, before we get 

326 



STORY OF THE SOLAR ENGINE 

through, we should find a way to harness the vol- 
canoes. Then the regions, like those surrounding Ve- 
suvius and Etna, may be selected for great mechan- 
ical operations. It is more than probable that some 
method will be discovered of controlling eruptions. 
Why, indeed, should not an eruption become part of 
the whole plan, and yield a boundless amount of 
power? In truth it is not probable that Nature ever 
intended that anything on this wonderful earth should 
go to waste. 

*^The greatest possibilities of modern times seem 
to be hidden in that mysterious substance called 
radium. 

^^When the Curries, of France, discovered this 
new power, they unlocked a secret of tremendous por- 
tent to civilization. Fifteen grains of radium will 
evolve an amount of heat equal to six million horse- 
power. About three times that amount would suffice 
to run all the factories in the United States. It takes 
1,500 years for it to lose half its power, and it is not 
quite used up in 10,000 years. When we learn the se- 
cret of radium, then indeed our possibilities will have 
practically become unlimited. Many scientists are 
working out its secrets, and we may expect to hear 
any day of discoveries that will stagger the imagina- 
tion. We have made only a beginning in using the 
vast forces that lie hidden in Nature. Will not our 
descendants wonder that we were not quicker in put- 
ting these forces to work for usT' 



22 



327 



THE STORY OF THE MIXT-MASTER 
AND HOW HE MAKES OUR MOXEY 



THE Story-tellers were deeply puzzled when tlie 
pallid-faced man with rather shabby clothes in- 
formed them that he was now going to show 
them how to make money. 

''I am a money-maker," he announced. ^'I have 
probably made more money than any other man on 
earth — and yet I am a poor man, possibly the poorest 
man in the room." 

''Indeed, you must be very poor," ejaculated one 
of the Story-tellers. ''You must be the proverbial 
church mouse." 

"Xo," he answered. "I am an employee in a 
money factory — I work in the mint. I see nothing but 
money all day. It is piled in huge heaps behind me. 
Millions of dollars — yes, billions — surround me. Huge 
machines pour it from their mouths. It is money, 
money, money — all day long. 

"There is always something fascinating about the 
story of money," he began. "It is the medium 
through which the whole civilized world expresses its 
ambition. It is the goal of most men and the ruin of 
many men. It is both a great blessing and an awful 
curse. It is the father of much of the world's wicked- 
ness — and the mother of much of its virtue. How it 
began and where it will end is one of the most in- 
teresting problems in life. 

"Long ago — in the ancient days before men had 
invented money — we lived by fair trade and barter. 

323 



STORY OF THE MINT 



If we had too much corn and our brother had more 
wheat than he needed, we made a fair exchange. 
Grains came into use as the purchasing mediums. Then 
in later days silks and spices w^ere used — and even 
cattle and human slaves. Our American Indians used 
animal hides and wampum, while the Esquimaux used 
tallow and tusks. Finally, necessity (the mother of 
invention) devised the idea of coins — and from that 
has come the great modern mint, or * money factory.' 

*'Our first mint was established at Philadelphia 
in 1793,'' continued the Story-teller. *^From the be- 
ginning, machinery was used to produce coins in this 
country. We have never turned them out by hand. 
In ancient times, before the days of machinery, coins 
were first punched out of sheets of metal with hand- 
dies. Coins so made were bound to be irregular in 
shape and thickness, engraved slovenly and easily 
clipped. But by the time the United States was ready 
to coin its first cents, which was in 1793, and its first 
dollars, in 1794, the French had brought into use a 
lever-press. It was not until 1-836 that the Philadelphia 
mint was fitted with the steam press invented by M. 
Thonnelier. Since then American inventors have im- 
proved the machinery for making money until it is 
now one of the modern wonders. 

*^The Philadelphia mint is now equipped mth 23 
coin presses, each of which is capable of turning out 
110 finished coins every minute. The government's 
coin producing facilities are now so great that our 
mints are able to coin money for foreign countries, 
as well as that coined for the United States. A Fed- 
eral law permits them to do this, and many of the 
South and Central American countries have contracted 
with the United States mints to coin their moneys. 

*^ Running a mint is not an easy task. There are 
many problems that do not come up in the operation 

329 



WONDER STORIES 



of any other kind of ^factory.' There must be abso- 
lute accuracy in every detail, for otherwise great losses 
would be incurred. The metals used for coins must be 
of precise composition, the weight of the finished coins 
must be exact, their size must be uniform, their design 
must be artistic and simple, and they must be of suf- 
ficient hardness to stand long usage/' 

^^Tell us how to make money!" called out some 
one from the farther end of the room. 

^^This is the way it is done,'' replied the mint- 
worker. ^^ First take your gold to the government 
mint. It will purchase all gold brought to it, provided 
it is worth not less than $100. The raw metal is first 
made into bars, from which small bits are chipped. 
The assay of the metal is determined by the * proofs' 
which these chips show. The seller is paid either in 
money or in refined gold, at his option, to the full 
value of the bullion he has submitted. 

**Pure gold is too soft to stand hard wear; so 
copper is added to it to make it more durable. To 
every 900 parts of gold there are added 100 parts of 
the baser metal. This alloy is then made into ingots. 
An ingot is a chunk of metal fifteen and one-eighth 
inches long, one-half inch thick, and twelve and one- 
half inches wide. These ingots are fed into rollers 
at the rate of 200 a minute and there go through a 
process known as * breaking down'; that is, they are 
rolled out until they assume a thickness equal to that 
of the finished coin. During this rolling they are an- 
nealed. After they have gone through this process, 
they have a length of six feet. To make sure that the 
thickness is exact, they are drawn, just as is wire. 

''The next process is to grease the metal with tal- 
low and pass it on to a machine that punches holes 
in it. The metal which is punched out of each hole is 
in the form of a perfect circle and has the measure- 

330 



STORY OF THE MINT 



ments of the finished coin. These pieces are called 
planchets, or blanks. After they fall out of the punch- 
ing machine, they are sorted. The perfect ones go 
immediately to the stamping machine, while the short- 
weight ones are remelted into ingots, and the over- 
weight ones are filed down to the required weight. 
This filing is done by women, who perform the work 
by hand. A special apron is given to each woman, 
so that all the precious filings may be caught. 

*^Let us watch the coins go through the stamping 
machines; the perfect blanks first pass between a re- 
volving wheel and a stationary piece of metal, with 
the result that their edges are pressed up to form rims 
on the disks. Thus are coins given their milled edges. 
The stamping machines imprint the designs on the 
coins. The obverse and reverse are stamped simul- 
taneously by properly arranged dies, and the reeded 
edge is put on the coins in the same operation. 

*^ Great pressure is, of course, required to do this 
work. In stamping and reeding double eagles, a force 
of 175 tons is brought to bear on each ; for the eagle, 
a pressure of 120 tons is needed; for the half eagle, 75 
tons are required; and for the quarter eagle, 40 tons. 
The modern stamping machine is capable of turning 
out eagles and double eagles at the rate of 80 a minute ; 
half and quarter eagles are poured out at the rate 
of 100 a minute. ' ' 

**Is silver money made the same way?" asked a 
listener. 

*^The coining of silver entails practically the same 
processes," answered the mint-worker, *'but the silver 
coin is stamped with much more pressure. The silver 
dollar requires 150 tons; the half dollar, 110; the 
twenty-five cent piece, 80 tons; and the dime, 40 tons 
pressure. The first three named are stamped at the 
rate of 80 a minute, and the dime at 100 a minute. ' ' 

331 



WONDER STORIES 



*'How would you like to count money all day 
longf asked the Story-teller. *^That is what we 
have to do in the mint. An expert at this work can 
count as many as 10,000 dimes in three minutes ! The 
finished coins are counted by being placed on boards 
provided T\dth * collars' on their surfaces. Each col- 
lar can hold one coin, and each board has a given num- 
ber of collars. So by placing coins on these boards, 
and then shuffling them, a given number of coins will 
be held by a board. 

*'The counted coins are then sent to another de- 
partment in the mint, where they are made up into 
drafts worth $1,000 each for the gold, and $5,000 each 
for the silver. This is not done by counting out a 
number of coins to make up the desired amount, but 
it is done by weighing — a definite number of coins 
being of a definite weight and a definite value. The 
scales used have been brought to such a state of per- 
fection that a weighing machine capable of handling 
3,000 ounces at a time can be thrown out of balance 
by placing a small piece of paper on one of its pans. 

**The machinery for making money is under con- 
stant watch. Sample coins are selected at random at 
frequent intervals to be tested by the Assay Com- 
mittee. But coinage in the United States is such a 
developed industry that rarely more than one coin in 
a million is found to be faulty." 

As the mint-worker finished his story, his hearers 
delved down into their pockets to examine the won- 
derful coins that we call *^ money'' — these little mir- 
acles that both **make and break" men. 



332 



THE STORY OF THE METEOROLOGIST 
AND THE WEATHER PROPHETS 



THE rain began to beat against the window panes. 
The sky had been overcast but a few moments, 
when the cloud burst and the torrents fell. 

**Who would have believed a half hour ago that it 
was going to rain 1 ^ ' remarked one of the Story-tellers, 
adding, *^By the way, is there anyone among us who 
can tell us about the marvelous story of weather pre- 
diction r' 

A keen-eyed man arose. 

*^I am what you might call a prognosticator,'' he 
said, *^but more scientifically known as a meteorolo- 
gist. It is my duty to tell the nation to-day what the 
weather is to be to-morrow. Millions of people watch 
daily for these predictions. Thousands arrange their 
business affairs according to them. Farmers sow and 
reap by these predictions, and many fortunes are 
saved by our weather warnings." 

^'The weather prophet," he explained^ *4s one of 
the oldest institutions in the world. Every village 
has its hoary expert, whose predictions, should they 
come true, are widely remembered; while, if they fail, 
they are forgotten. In addition to signs in the sky, 
such as clouds or a ring around the moon, which are 
of some value, but only for immediate purposes, there 
are numberless other traditions. 

''The government Weather Bureau is not a 
prophet, contrary to the general belief. It does not 
attempt to prognosticate weather conditions by same 

333 



WONDER STORIES 



mysterious means. All it does is to trace the areas 
of high and low pressure, as gathered from telegraphic 
reports from various sections of the country. From 
these, knowing that climatic states travel almost inva- 
riably from west to east, it deduces what the weather 
will be on successive days." 

*^It is purely scientific," he continued. ^'So far as 
temperature and storms are concerned, the Weather 
Bureau can issue predictions for thirty-six hours 
ahead with almost unvarying accuracy. With fore- 
casts of rain it is less successful. Sometimes it errs. 
The prophecy of fine weather on the occasion of Presi- 
dent Taft's inauguration was falsified by one of the 
worst blizzards since the famous one of 1888. But 
that was due to a ^flare-back.' The storm, which had 
passed out to sea, returned and enveloped Washington 
and the Atlantic Coast. Against such possibilities the 
Bureau of Meteorology is helpless. But the occurrence 
is extremely rare. 

'^The Weather Bureau does not exist to gratify the 
universal interest in the weather. It saves the nation 
millions of dollars annually. When a ^northwester' 
is sig-naled along the Gulf shores the orange-growers 
get their heating apparatus ready. They know that 
the northwest wind brings frost. A sudden fall in 
the temperature, for which they are unprepared, would 
mean the loss of acres of orange-bearing trees. 

**The first authentic weather record," said he, 
**was that prepared by William Merle, rector of Driby, 
England, who kept a tabulation of the weather during 
the years 1331-38. Ferdinand II of Tuscany origi- 
nated, in 1653, a local system of meteorological records, 
the first to be established by any State. The science 
of meteorology, like most other sciences, began to 
exist as such in the nineteenth century. 

**Its beginnings in America were in the year 1817, 

334 



STORY OF THE WEATHER BUREAU 

when Josiah Meigs issued meteorological instructions 
to the registrars of the United States Land Office. It 
was in 1838 that Professor James P. Espey, who had 
investigated the motive power of thunderstorms and 
tornadoes, secured the appointment of a joint Govern- 
ment Committee on Meteorology. He was made 
meteorologist to the government four years later. 

**The first daily weather maps began to be drawn 
in 1854. The service ceased during the Civil War, 
owing to the interruption of telegraphic messages, but 
in 1870 Congress ordered the Secretary of War to 
provide for the observation and prediction of storms. 
The United States Weather Bureau was reorganized 
under the Department of Agriculture in 1891, and 
from that date it has uninterruptedly given service 
to the nation. It maintains some six hundred paid 
employees at 180 stations. Keports are also received 
from several hundred special observers, and there are 
about 2,500 volunteers. 

** Weather telegrams are received at the central 
bureau in Washington twice daily,'' explained the 
meteorologist; **at eight in the morning and at eight 
at night. On these are based the forecasts which are 
made for the next thirty-six hours, and from them 
the weather charts are drawn. These forecasts are 
sent out by telegrams throughout the country, to 
newspapers, postoffices, vessels about to sail, flag 
signal stations, etc. Since 1887 there has been pub- 
lished weekly in summer a weather crop bulletin, now 
issued by the Climate and Crop Division. In winter 
this bulletin appears once a month. It shows the con- 
dition of snow, ice, navigation, and winter wheat. A 
monthly lake chart is also issued in the winter for 
navigators on the Great Lakes. 

**The entire country is divided into forty-five sec- 
tions, corresponding roughly to the States. In addi- 

335 



WONDER STORIES 



tion to the central office at Washington there are 
branch offices at Chicago, Boston, Galveston, San 
Francisco, Portland. 

^* Needless to say, the men of the Weather Bureau 
do not make use of any of the arbitrary signs which 
are supposed to enable us to forecast the weather. A 
number of delicate instruments of precision are util- 
ized: thermometers, barometers, anemometers for 
measuring the wind, psychrometers and hygrometers 
for detecting the humidity of the atmosphere, and 
many others. The Hargrave kite is used for atmos- 
pheric exploration. The Piche evaporometer meas- 
ures the volume of evaporation within a given unit of 
time. American scientists have developed most of 
these instruments. The nephoscope, for the observa- 
tion of the direction and movements of clouds, consists 
simply of a mirror in which the reflection of the cloud 
is seen, and its rate of progress can be traced by com- 
parison with a point above the mirror. This was im- 
proved, for land service, by Professor Marvin, in 
1896, while the most satisfactory type of sea nepho- 
scope was devised by Abbe on board the Pensacola 
during her voyage to the west coast of Africa in 1889. 

*^ Various instruments are in use for the recording 
of sunshine. The Jordan photographic sunshine re- 
corder, which is one of the most common types, con- 
sists of a cylinder covered with sensitized paper, and 
enclosed in a cover, leaving a small aperture through 
which the rays of the sun may strike. As they enter 
the opening they discolor the sensitized paper, which 
is continually reeled off on the cylinder. Whenever 
the sun is obscured, the paper ceases to be discolored, 
the discoloration resuming as soon as the sun comes 
out again. In this way the number of hours of sun- 
shine may readily be detected. 

'^Then there is the Stokes-Campbell recorder, 

336 



STORY OF THE WEATHER BUREAU 

which consists of a burning glass with pasteboard or 
wood at the back. The glass catches and concentrates 
the sun's rays, which char the wood or pasteboard so 
long as the sun is shining. 

^^Did you ever hear of Professor Marvin's ther- 
mometric sunshine recorder? It consists of a ther- 
mometer tube, having a black bulb at one end and a 
bright bulb at the other. Since black absorbs the heat, 
while white tends more to reflect it, the column of 
mercury constantly moves upward toward the white 
bulb so long as the sun is shining, while the record is 
taken on an electrically revolving drum. 

*^We must not forget the psychrometer for the de- 
tection and measuring of humidity. It consists of two 
thermometers side by side. The bulb of one, being 
immersed in water, radiates more heat, and conse- 
quently the mercury column is lower than in the other 
thermometer. A comparison of the two readily shows 
the absorption of water, and hence the humidity. 

*'In spite of the remarkable investigations," said 
the meteorologist in conclusion, ^^our knowledge of 
the causes of atmospheric changes is still limited. The 
relation of the weather to sunspots has excited much 
interest, and it is believed that some relationship 
exists between them. There is no doubt that many im- 
portant laws governing the weather remain to be dis- 
covered, and American scientists are working indus- 
triously to solve the problems. The time may come 
when we shall know what the weather is to be a week 
ahead or even months. '^ 



337 



THE STORY OF THE MILLER AND THE 
LIFE-GIVING GRAINS OF WHEAT 



THE flaxen-haired girl seemed much embarrassed 
when she saw the eyes of the Story-tellers 
turned upon her. The roses upon her cheeks 
deepened until they were crimson. 

^^I am the miller's daughter," she said. **My fa- 
ther could not come, because he is too busy. I do not 
know what to tell you, unless I say that I can make 
bread." 

Her simple manner won the hearts of her hearers. 

^^Good, good!" they shouted, ^'tell us about 
bread." 

*^I will tell you," she said, *'how the little grain of 
wheat feeds the world. I do not know who invented 
bread — ^but I know that God invented wheat. We read 
how it grew thousands of years ago in the valley of 
the Euphrates or Palestine. In the ancient times, the 
millers ground it into flour with the pestle and mortar. 
It is recorded in the book of Judges that a popular 
leader, while besieging a city, was slain by a woman 
who threw a millstone upon his head. The millstone 
is referred to several times in the Old and New Tes- 
taments. To-day, we have the enormous mills that eat 
up millions of bushels of wheat like hungry giants. 

**My father once told me," continued the miller's 
daughter, *Hhat the average American laborer's fam- 
ily spends $329.19 yearly for food ; $110.50 of this goes 
for meat, $38 for milk and eggs, and $29.20 for bread. 
I have heard that 45 per cent of the energy value of 

338 



STORY OF THE MILLER 



the American laborer's daily food comes from this 
bread. Do you know that we folk here in the United 
States are one of the few countries of the world which 
have the lordly privilege of eating their own bread? 
England, Holland, Switzerland, Belgium, Norway, and 
Sweden must all look to foreign countries for their 
wheat and flour. We bake bread enough every year 
to give thirty loaves to each of the earth 's inhabitants. 
We could build eight ^ bread lines,' each stretching 
from New York to San Francisco. I wish you could 
see what the little sheaf of wheat passes through in 
its journey from the harvest fields of Kansas, or Illi- 
nois, or Washington, or Nebraska, to the twenty odd 
millions of American breakfast tables. Not long ago, 
I saw an exhibition at which wheat was cut, threshed, 
made into flour, and baked in the form of biscuits — 
all in the space of twenty-three minutes. Surely this 
was a more wondrous feat than any ever performed 
by Cinderella's godmother. 

^^I am too young to remember the incidents,'' she 
said, *^but my father has told me how the first mer- 
chant mill was erected in Minneapolis, in 1854. The 
first great steel mill was erected in 1878, and in twelve 
years our infant city on the head waters of the Missis- 
sippi became the world's greatest ^ flour city.' But, 
before relating the wonders of the modern flour mill, 
I will begin with the wheat after it has been threshed 
in the almost human machines, which separate the 
grain from the straw and chatf, to prepare wheat for 
shipping. When the grain reaches the mill, it is 
weighed by a state official and carried to the top of 
the wheat-house by an endless chain of buckets. The 
wheat must be carefully cleaned, for it contains dirt 
and chaff. When it has passed through sieves, it is 
carried to a larger cylinder, where the dirt and fuzz 
on the berries are removed by brushes and by means 

339 



WONDER STORIES 



of compressed air. The ^scoured' wheat is then heated 
and moistened. This is called 'tempering.^ The 
dampened grain is now dried in heaters, after which 
it is ready to be ground into flour. 

''How is flour made? Why, the berries first pass 
through five, and sometimes six, sets of steel rollers. 
The dust, or flour, passes through bolting cloths. Some 
of them are so fine that they contain more than 16,000 
meshes to the square inch. A bushel of wheat weigh- 
ing 60 pounds makes about 43 1-3 pounds of high- 
grade flour. The discarded portions of the berry are 
used as animal feed. Altogether sometimes as many 
as 100 products are created in the process of milling. 
The streams of wheat which are intended for use as 
flour are directed into a single chute, in which they 
mingle. The flour falls into sacks, which, when filled, 
are automatically weighed and sewed. From the time 
the grain enters the wheat-house to the time it is 
packed as flour ready for shipping, no human hand 
touches it. I always enjoy watching the large milling 
machines at their work. I have seen a single mill 
grind out 3,500,000 pounds of flour in 24 hours. The 
improved machinery has made flour milling one of the 
greatest of American industries. 

*'If you ever go to the 'flour cities' be sure to visit 
the wonderful grain elevators. Thej are high, window- 
less buildings, with a superstructure resembling a 
cupola, in which is installed the machinery. The ele- 
vators of the Northwest, such as those of Minneapolis, 
for example, are capable of storing from 500,000 to 
4,000,000 bushels of wheat, and can handle and trans- 
fer as much as 30,000 bushels in an hour. 

"I brought some of the magical figures with me," 
explained the miller's daughter, "if you wish to hear 
them. There were in the United States, at the time 
of the last census, 11,691 establishments producing 

340 



STORY OF THE MILLER 



flour. They paid $38,981,000 in salaries and wages that 
year, and gave work to 51,484 persons. There was 
$349,152,000 invested in these establishments, and the 
value of the products was $883,584,000. Two hundred 
million barrels of wheat flour were produced. 

^^The most wonderful part of this story of a grain 
of wheat," said the Story-teller, **is to watch it go 
through the bakery. Did you ever visit a modern 
bakery in a large city? Thousands of sacks of flour 
are stored on the top floor. It has been cleaned care- 
fully at the mill, but it is again purified in the bakery 
in an elaborate apparatus known as a ^dresser.' Then 
it is conveyed to bins. Two and three hundred barrels 
are cleaned in a single day. Under the bins are the 
huge dough-mixing machine. The flour is carried into 
these machines, where it is mixed in the proper pro- 
portions with milk, water, salt, and yeast. No hand 
touches the dough. Think of machinery kneading 
bread with a dasher, operated by steam. The mixture 
is collected in a trough and is allowed to * raise' for 
several hours. The dough is then shot through a 
chute to be molded into loaves. It now rests in a 
steam-box for a short time, until the forms of dough 
are ready for the oven. Long-handled shovels place 
the dough into huge gas-lit ovens. There they remain 
for about half an hour. The bread is removed from 
the ovens; the loaves are piled into delivery wagons, 
and off they go to the grocer and the dining-room 
table — hundreds of thousands of loaves every day. 

**I always loved the marvelous fairy-tale where the 
pumpkin and mice are changed by magic into * a coach 
and six,' " laughed the miller's daughter, **but hov*^ 
much more wonderful is the magical transformation 
of grains of wheat into bread that feeds a nation!" 



341 



THE STORY OF THE INCUBATOR THAT 
CREATES AND SAVES LIFE 



"T F you were given your choice between all the gold 
J^ mined in this country and all the egg and poultry 
products in the United States — ^which would you 
choose!" 

The speaker was a portly woman of about fifty 
years of age, evidently from the country — a farmer's 
wife. 

**I presume," she said, answering her own ques- 
tion, **that you would choose the gold. But you would 
be cheating yourself out of more than $600,000,000. 

**The poultry farm is one of the greatest indus- 
tries in the world," exclaimed the woman. *^The 
value of its products exceeds that of all the iron, coal, 
gold, and silver produced. It reaches $700,000,000 in 
a single year. If all the chickens, turkeys, ducks, and 
geese could be placed in a straight line, one closely 
following the other, they would make a spiral proces- 
sion around the earth eight times. It is estimated 
that there are over 500,000,000 fowls in this country 
at the present moment. It would require a thousand 
cities the size of Manhattan Island (New York) to 
make chicken yards big enough to raise them." 

**How many eggs did these fowl lay?" asked a 
merchant sitting near by. 

** Nearly two billion eggs in a year," replied the 
Story-teller. **If they could be placed in boxes of one 
dozen each, they would make a pile nearly ten thou- 
sand miles high. 

342 



STORY OF THE INCUBATOR 



**But the wonder story of the egg,*^ continued the 
farmer's wife, **is the incubator, an invention that 
takes the place of the mother, and which makes the 
fluffy little baby chicken an orphan even before it is 
born. In the ^good, old-fashioned days' when the 
mother-hen longed for children of her own to love, 
protect, and raise for the ' chopping block, ' she settled 
down in some quiet, out-of-the-way place and made a 
nest ; then she laid in it a dozen or more eggs and sat 
down over them to wait and watch. Nature sent up 
her blood above normal, and she sat there patiently 
and kept them warm with her body for three long 
weeks. Soon the pecking of little bills could be heard 
inside the eggs, until on some happy day the egg shell 
cracked and opened, and out slipped the little fluffy 
chicken like a ball of warm fleece. Remember that it 
took the mother hen three weeks to hatch the eggs 
and then it took her nearly three months to raise her 
family, before they could begin to look after them- 
selves. That was about a third of a year of ^lost 
time. ' 

^^Some miraculous scheme to relieve the mother 
from her responsibilities always has been the dream 
of the scientist. He began with the hen, because there 
the problem seemed to be nearer the solution. The 
secret for the artificial hatching of eggs was known 
to the Egyptians and the Chinese for many centuries, 
and they kept it carefully guarded. In the Nile delta 
in Egypt it is estimated that 90,000,000 eggs are 
hatched each year. The Chinese and Egyptian methods 
are clumsy but successful affairs, being great outdoor 
ovens in which smouldering fires are maintained. 

**In the year that the pilgrims settled in America 
(1620), a gentleman in England astonished his coun- 
trymen by announcing that he had made a machine 
to hatch chickens every month of the year, even in mid- 
23 343 



WONDER STORIES 



winter. It was a crude affair, but excited much in- 
terest and speculation. The mother hen, however, 
continued to do her duty, and it was many genera- 
tions before the scientists really began to rob her of 
the joys of motherhood. Throughout the early years 
in America, the clucking hen on the nest was the 
familiar scene. It was not until well along in the 
nineteenth century that the incubator began to usurp 
the throne of the ^setting hen.' But, when it did be- 
come established, there occurred a bloodless revolution 
in the poultry world. Its population doubled and 
trebled, and increased like magic. The baby chickens 
came by the thousands and tens of thousands — by 
millions. 

**Did you ever watch life come into existence in an 
incubator?" asked the Story-teller. ^*It is one of the 
greatest of miracles. An incubator is a cabinet of 
shallow drawers, in which the eggs are closely ar- 
ranged. There are all sorts of devices for heating, 
such as a lamp, gas, stove, hot water, and steam. 
There are also all sorts of regulators for maintaining 
a steady heat, for turning the eggs, and supplying 
moisture. The egg lies in the warmth, and the magical 
process begins. In the shell is the delicate organiza- 
tion of a real life. A chill, or too much heat, or too 
dry a heat, would cause its death. But under about 
102° Fahrenheit it thrives and continues to grow. This 
gentle heat maintains the condition of growth. 

* ' The tiny cells begin to stir and swell ; slowly they 
take form into what becomes the brain, spinal cord, 
the backbone, the eyes, the limbs, the bones; and va- 
rious organs of the body, the heart, liver, intestines, 
feathers or fuzz, all formed cell by cell during gesta- 
tion. This first takes place within the yolk, finally in- 
volving and using up the white part of the egg. The 
delicate and wise plan of the Creator brings the 

344 



STORY OF THE INCUBATOR 



embryo (that is, the young tender life) as close to the 
warmth of the mother-hen's body as possible. If the 
egg were kept in one position three weeks, the yolk 
would stick to the membrane, and the chick would 
probably be maimed or deformed. The wise mother- 
hen knows this by instinct, so she takes her beak and 
turns over every egg every day. This same principle 
is followed in the incubator. Soon life begins to ap- 
pear in the eggs; they move slightly from the infant 
power within the shell; you can hear little feet kick 
the shell and struggle to break the wall that holds them 
in; there is a smothered chirp. Then the great day 
comes; the shell cracks and then bursts. Out from 
its darkness, the little feathered ball of life steps into 
this wonderful world. 

*^But the modern scientist is not stopping here," 
continued the Story-teller. *^The incubator is now 
performing other astounding miracles. It is being 
used to sustain and nourish the delicate life of the 
human babies that come into the world before their 
time. Thousands of children owe their lives to the 
baby incubator, which is used in most of the large 
hospitals to-day. The scientists, however, are not 
satisfied with preserving life, they are working every 
day to create life — the miracle of miracles." 



345 



THE STORY OF THE HOUSEWIFE AND 
THE NEW DOMESTIC SCIENCE 



ON the day on which this story was told a dinner 
was served at the Story-tellers Club. The mem- 
bers were gathered about the library table while 
the rare eatables were brought steaming hot — food 
that had never touched a fire, but was deliciously 
cooked. 

**Hail to the cook!^' shouted one of the Story- 
tellers. *^ Bring in the cook and let her reveal her 
magic." 

The cook, a woman of fifty years, more or less, 
a-nd plump and happy, was plainly embarrassed by 
the cordial greeting that she received. 

*^I suppose,'' said the cook, ^Hhat my story begins 
back with Eve, or whoever it was that discovered the 
great secret that fish and meat were much more 
palatable when held over a fire. From that moment 
the trouble began. From that day the world has de- 
manded that its food be cooked. The duty fell on the 
hands of woman — and she has been cooking and stew- 
ing ever since, until to-day the cook is the uncrowned 
queen of the land. The real throne is the kitchen, 
and the scepter of power is the frying-pan. The cook 
reigns supreme in every nation, and even kings obey 
her commands. 

*^The first recipe known to woman is the recipe for 
bread," began the cook's story. ** Bread-making is 
the most ancient of feminine arts. It probably began 
in Egypt and was then introduced into Greece and 

346 



STORY OF THE STOVE 



Eome. It is frequently mentioned in the Bible. 
Throughout the ages it has been known as ^the staff 
of life.' It has become so important a part of life 
that we speak of the problem of earning a livelihood 
as * bread- winning,' and call our laborers ^ bread-win- 
ners.' 

^^How the art of cooking began is an interesting 
tale, ' ' continued the cook. ^ ^ The first cookstove was fire 
built of dry leaves and twigs, over which the raw flesh 
was broiled. Later, some genius discovered that it 
would be a wise scheme to build the fire between two 
stones to avoid the winds. Then it was that somebody 
thought of the lazy plan of laying the flesh over the 
stones, and the next step was to devise a crude vessel 
to hold it. Some wise person finally discovered that 
a hole in the earth could be used, and the fire made to 
do more work and not blaze up and burn the fuel so 
fast. After a while some one let the smoke out of a 
vent in his cave. Then, when men began to make huts, 
they built a fireplace in one side with a vent to the 
roof. That was the great invention of the age. For 
many hundreds of years such a device was the basis of 
civilization. It was in these old fireplaces that cook- 
ing became a fine art. 

* ^ The old brick oven was the next great step in the 
progress of the culinary art. It was first made of 
earth and stone. Some well-to-do people had very 
neat brick ovens, with cast-iron front doors. They 
were heated for baking and roasting by building a 
wood fire in the oven and then scraping the ashes out 
clean; and very often the loaf of dough was laid di- 
rectly on the clay floor by a long-handled wooden 
shovel. 

**The first stove recorded in history,'' said the 
Story-teller, '^was made in Germany, in 1490. The 
first stove made in America was a blast-furnace, 

347 



WONDER STORIES 



erected in Massachusetts in 1642. But it was Benjamin 
Franklin who revolutionized cooking. He is the ^father 
of cooking' and the * patron saint' of every cook in 
the land — there are over ten million of them in the 
United States to-day. The Franklin stove was in- 
vented in 1745. It was a cast-iron box, with a sliding 
shutter in front by which the hole might be closed 
entirely or in part to regulate the draft. A hearth 
projected in front. The heat passed under iron plates 
and about air chambers before it finally entered the 
chimney. This stove was duly provided with checks 
to control the fire and embodied the principles of the 
modern air-tight stoves. 

*'In those days, bread was baked in the earthen 
ovens out-of-doors. Franklin invented a barrel-shaped 
double metal drum, which he placed on the back of the 
stove next to the chimney. In this were metallic 
shelves ; from this time bread, pies, and cake could be 
baked in the house. He exacted no royalty, but gave 
this invaluable invention freely to the people. TThen 
coal was introduced as a fuel, the grate was invented, 
to allow air to enter the fuel from below as well and 
thus keep the coal burning. Times have changed, and 
we live in a more luxurious age, but, with all our in- 
ventive ingenuity, we have not until recently improved 
the general principles in either the stove or the oven. 
We have modified the old stove and oven to make use 
of elements that mean less trouble and work — and 
from this has come the modern range, with all its 
labor-saving devices. 

^'But the day has come at last," exclaimed the 
cook, ^'when the old-fashioned wood and coal stove is 
fast passing away. Its first strong competitor was 
the oil stove; then came the gas range. Finally, we 
began to cook by electricity, and now comes the * fire- 
less cooker' — ^the greatest invention of all. It is the 

348 



STORY OF THE STOVE 



fireless cooker that cooked the dinner that I am now 
serving to you. It is merely an air-tight box like a 
refrigerator, which maintains for many hours any 
temperature desired. A pail of hot water may be 
placed in one of its air-tight compartments, and it 
will continue to boil for half a day or more. Foods 
may be hurriedly heated to the boiling or broiling 
point at night and placed in the * fireless cooker.' They 
will continue to cook throughout the night, while the 
housewife sleeps, and will be steaming hot for break- 
fast in the morning. 

**This is not a magic dream," declared the cook. 
*^It is an accomplished fact. The housewife of the 
future will merely push a button. A vessel or com- 
partment will almost instantly be heated to the de- 
sired temperature. The ^fireless cooker' will maintain 
the heat, the food will cook — and dinner will be ready. 

** Modern science has come at last to the rescue 
of the housekeeper," exclaimed the Story-teller. ^^The 
art of cooking has become one of the Fine Arts. It 
is being taught in our schools. It is a part of our 
education. There are Domestic Science courses in 
our colleges. The cook is no longer the * woman in the 
kitchen.' She is to-day the * woman on the throne.' 
The woman who cannot cook is a woman of gross 
ignorance ; the woman who can cook is mistress of all 
she surveys." 

As the cook finished her story, one of the diners 
sprang to his feet. 

^^ Three cheers for the American housewife!" he 
shouted — and the room rang with an enthusiastic 
tribute. 



349 



THE STORY OF THE COTTOX PLAXTER 
AXD THE MODERX COTTOX MILLS 



THE next Story-teller stood before the gathering 
like a knight of chivalry. His tall, slender, and 
erect figure was clad in frock coat and light 
trousers, and a black string tie drooped over his shirt 
bosom. His aquiline features were accentuated by a 
gray-tinged goatee. In tones soft and deep he began 
Ms story. 

** Ladies!" bowing in courtly manner in their di- 
rection, ''Gentlemen!" bowing again, ''I have listened 
to the wonder stories as though they were modern tales 
of Arabian Xights — ^they thrilled me even more, for 
they are true, vital, and human; they breathe the in- 
domitable American spirit. It gives me deep honor 
to be permitted to tell my story; the story of my land 
and my people, the story of cotton." 

A subdued cheer greeted the courtly gentleman's 
words. 

''The story of cotton is the story of my South- 
land," he declared. "Its development is the develop- 
ment of my land; its wealth is the wealth of my people. 
And we owe it all to the genius of that American from 
the North, Eli TVhitney, the Massachusetts tutor, to 
whom we of the South pay deep homage. x\nywhere 
you go in our great cotton belt, which sweeps from 
the Atlantic to the far borders of Old Mexico, you will 
find the same cotton-gin, in essential points, that Whit- 
ney invented while residing in the family of our dis- 
tinguished Southern lady, Mrs. General Greene, wife 

350 



STORY OF THE COTTON GIN 



of the Eevolutionary hero. He brought it into this 
world a completed machine, which countless mechanics 
have been unable to improve upon, one of the few 
great creations which have this distinction. His gin 
was completed in 1784, two years after the first Gov- 
ernment coining mint was opened in Philadelphia. 

**A journey through our cotton fields," continued 
the planter, '4s like a trip through fairy-land. The 
uplands in harvest season are mantled in a great 
gossamer of white, with touches of soft red where the 
plant has become old. Here you will find the old 
regime as it flourished a century ago. You will be 
entertained in great baronial manor houses, whose 
corridors once echoed the swish of colonial gowns and 
the laughter of white-wigged ladies and cavaliers. To- 
day you will find the modern generation, unchanged 
except for the white wigs. It is a glorious picture. 
In the soft Southern moonlight you will find Sambo 
before his cabin door thrumming upon his banjo; in 
the cotton-fields you will find little beribboned, ging- 
ham clad pickaninnies whose kinky haired heads are 
thrust above the cotton plants like a period on the 
blank page. 

**We have great affection for our cotton planta- 
tions," he added. ''They have been our bulwarks of 
wealth for over a century, and they are hallowed by 
many legends of beautiful ladies and courtly gentle- 
men. The world could not do without them. We sup- 
ply three-quarters of the world's 133,000,000 spindles 
with cotton, which is valued at $700,000,000, a sum 
nearly as great as that which the Eussians had in their 
state and postal savings banks in 1912. Cotton is the 
world's great commodity; it is as standard as gold. 
Do you realize what a tremendous quantity is required 
to clothe humanity? We of the South supply three- 
fourths of it, remember. It has been estimated that, 

351 



WONDER STORIES 



if all the cotton bales produced in a year were stood 
on end to form a column, it would reach nearly 9,000 
miles high; or it would require a solid train of freight 
cars, each loaded to full capacity, numbering about 
138,000 cars, to move them. 

^^ Cotton is grown much in the same manner as 
corn. But the growing is the least part of the opera- 
tion. It is the picking that drives many planters to 
distraction, because of its tediousness, and the scarcity 
and high cost of the labor involved. It is hand labor 
throughout. But in recent years a new invention, 
which I will describe later, has appeared, which 
promises to revolutionize the industry as did Whit- 
ney's cotton gin. 

*^Let us follow the operations of the cotton planter 
during harvest season. The crowds of light-hearted 
laborers, negroes, big and little, men, women, and 
children, and white people, too, travel down the rows 
with big bags slung over their shoulders, picking those 
cotton bolls which are ripe. An expert picker can 
pick about three hundred pounds a day, or little more 
than half a bale. Then the cotton bolls, full of seeds, 
vegetable matter and dirt, are taken to the batteries 
of gins to be cleaned. Here the sharp teeth of circular 
saws, mounted in a cylinder and revolving between a 
network of wires too close together to permit seeds 
to pass, catch the cotton and clean it. A set of brushes 
brush the under side of the saw teeth, rubbing off the 
cotton as it passes into the press, where hydraulic 
rams press it into bales, 28x56x42 inches in measure- 
ment. From here it is sent to the compresses, where 
it is further pressed, the height of the bale being re- 
duced from 42 to 18 inches. Then it is ready for ship- 
ment, clothed in bagging and wrapped around with 
steel or iron bands. 

**The cotton-gin is a simple machine, but it is in its 

352 



STORY OF THE COTTON GIN 



simplicity that its greatest value lies. For ages 
planters had been growing cotton, but the picking out 
of the seeds was an endless task and prohibited cotton 
culture on great scales. The Hindus and the Chinese 
are said to have had a crude machine which is known 
as the *churka.' What the cotton-gin means to the 
South, and of course to the world, is revealed in the 
fact that, before Whitney invented it, the Southern 
states produced only about 2,000,000 pounds, in 1790. 
One hundred and twenty years later, the crop amounted 
to 6,000,000,000 pounds, or 3,000 times as much. 

*^What the cotton-gin did for the industry, a new 
machine, the mechanical cotton picker, a machine with 
almost human intelligence, promises to repeat. Even 
the Aztecs, the Hindus, in fact all people who raised 
cotton, struggled with the problem of picking cotton 
expeditiously. It is related that one American even 
imported Brazilian monkeys and endeavored to train 
them to take the place of the negro laborer. It was 
not until a recent year that an American, Angus Camp- 
bell, after working nearly twenty years on the prob- 
lem, finally produced a machine which performed this 
duty. It is a marvelous machine, and a cotton planter, 
skeptical like all his neighbors, exclaimed when he 
witnessed the wizardry of the machine: *You can go 
home, Sam (speaking to one of his negro field pickers). 
You Ve lost your job !' It looked like a traction engine 
and ran down astride of the cotton plants, picking the 
plant clean as it passed. Nimble hooked fingers of 
metal, assisted by steel needles which mechanically 
imbedded themselves into each boll, tore the bolls off 
and deposited them in the hoppers. But the wizardry 
of the machine was that it literally examined each boll 
before picking to see if it was ripe and ready. If it 
was not, then the fingers skipped and looked for those 
that were ripe. 

353 



WONDER STORIES 



^^The cotton seed was not only once despised, but 
was a cause of annoyance, for the cotton-gins created 
liuge mountains of them and finally would have to move 
to another part of the field or be engulfed To Paul 
Aldige, of New Orleans, who first successfully crushed 
the seed and extracted oil, in 1855, Americans owe a 
great deal. This industry, a by-product, now produces 
annually more than $140,000,000 a year. 

*^Let us call the roll of the cotton states to find 
out what cotton means to them. There is the greatest 
producer, Texas. Her cotton crop, in 1909, exceeded 
the value of all vegetables, except potatoes and yams, 
raised in the same year in all the United States. 
Georgia's crop, the next largest, was valued at more 
than the total product of orchard fruits; Alabama's 
at more than the total barley crop ; South Carolina's 
at more than the apple; Mississippi's, which in that 
year was only a little more than half her normal, 
even exceeded, with that handicap, the total value of 
sugar products; North Carolina's, the valuation of 
flowers and plants and nursery products; Oklahoma's, 
the peaches and nectarines and rye crops; Arkansas', 
the bean, dry pea, and peanut crops; Tennessee's, the 
rice and hop crops; Louisiana's, the buckwheat and 
kaffir corn, and milo maize crops ; Florida's, the maple 
sugar and syrup; Missouri's, the subtropical fruits, 
except oranges and lemons; Virginia's, the last in 
point of production, nearly twice as much as all the 
hemp raised. All hail to King Cotton ! ' ' 



354 



THE STORY OF THE SHEEP-RAISER 
AND HIS CROPS OF WOOL 



THE genial, bronzed face of the next Story-teller 
reflected the open range. Strength of body and 
character permeated his whole bearing. 

**I am a sheep-raiser and wool-clipper," were his 
opening words. ^'My story will prove to you that the 
little, humble sheep is mankind's best friend. Modern 
civilization cannot do without him ; he appears on your 
table as luscious joints; his wool drapes your backs 
and graces your floors; his * grease' makes milady's 
complexion as sweet and wholesome as the sun-kissed 
cheeks of my native Western land. 

**The United States is the greatest, by far, wool- 
consuming nation in the world. To supply this de- 
mand, or at least a great part of it, we have in this 
countrv more than 50.000.000 sheeD. a srreater number 
than we have of horses, mules, and dairv cows. In 
the one state of Montana alone there are more sheep 
than there are mules in the whole nation. We clip 
from all our sheep more than 300,000,000 pounds of 
fine wool, enough to supply every individual American 
with three pounds each. Over 1,200 American woolen 
mills use this vast fleecy mass, and call upon the rest 
of the world for sufficient to meet the insatiable de- 
mand. 

** Just as the woolen industry has undergone mirac- 
ulous changes in the last half century, so has the sheep 
industry. A sheep-herder of that day would not recog- 
nize a modern sheep ranch, possibly only the sheep. 
Chaos has given way to system, and in our Western 

355 



WONDER STORIES 



states there are stringent laws which we sheepmen 
must live up to. They are largely designed for our own 
perfection and benefit. 

^ ' Picture a well sheltered valley, deep with luscious 
grass. Keen-eyed men, two to a flock, ceaselessly 
watch their charges, numbering, in the aggregate, hun- 
dreds of thousands of sheep, each valued at from $3 
to $12 apiece. Scores of intelligent sheep dogs sit 
on their haunches, keenly watching every move of the 
sheep. It is early spring in one of our Southwestern 
states, and the drovers are preparing to bring their 
flocks to the clipping sheds. They are long rambling 
buildings, whose interiors resemble a modern factory 
in the point of machinery. Long belts hang to the 
shaftings and lead down to the clipping machines, or 
shears. Twenty shearers, men who are experts at 
their trades and follow the clipping seasons, as the 
wheat harvesters do, take position beside the ma- 
chines. When all is ready, each man reaches into the 
shute leading from the outside and seizes a sheep, and 
with a quick swing has it in sitting posture between 
his knees. The machinery whirs, and the flashing 
shears slip over the sheep's back, clipping off his 
woolen coat in less than two minutes, a coat weighing, 
on the average, seven pounds of good wool, which, 
after scouring, will sell at the rate of about 55 cents 
a pound. 

* * One of the curious sights of the sheep ranch is to 
watch the sheep being * dipped,' an operation which is 
compelled by law. It is designed to free the sheep 
from the * scabies,' the disease caused by a parasitic 
germ which travels over its body under the wool. The 
sheep are driven to the entrance of a long trench 
filled with a cleansing composition, usually sulphur 
and tobacco, and are forced in and must swim the 
length of the trench to the exit." 

356 



STORY OF WOOL 



**I suppose man domesticated sheep as lie did other 
animals/' said one of the gathering. 

** Yes, he did/' replied the Westerner. ^^Inaway, 
wool is a symbol of civilization, for the wild sheep 
grows hair, not wool. Wool, as you probably know, is 
hair covered with minute pointed scales, or plates, at- 
tached to filaments at their bases and overlapping like 
fish scales. This causes the wool fibers to interlock 
and renders possible the manufacture of felt, which 
is wool heated and pressed into compact substance. 

*^ Jewish and Eoman chroniclers have left records 
which show that sheep-breeding was carried on by the 
ancients. The Eomans made of certain portions of 
Spain a great sheep ranch, their breeds including the 
Tarentine sheep (now extinct) and the merinos, which 
survived the raids of the Vandals and Goths and are 
perpetuated in the species of to-day. It is related that 
King George III, of England, wanted to introduce the 
Spanish merino to England, but the Spanish were 
reaping such wealth from their breed that they made 
it a criminal offense to export any. The difficulty was 
met, it is said, by giving the Spanish Ambassador's 
wife a pair of creamy white horses, valued at $40,000, 
and in return she caused smugglers to bring over a 
flock. These became the progenitors of the great 
Australian merino flocks. America was more for- 
tunate, for Columbus, in 1493, included in his cargo 
several Spanish sheep, which became progenitors of 
large flocks in New Mexico, Utah, and Texas. Sheep 
were introduced from England into Virginia, in 1609 ; 
into Massachusetts from England, in 1824; and into 
New York from Holland, in 1625. 

** Ninety-five out of every hundred Americans who 
wear woolen clothing are clad in fabrics from Amer- 
ican mills. To describe the processes by which the 
various cloths are made would fill a volume, as almost 

357 



WONDER STORIES 



every kind of cloth is manufactured differently. But 
they all, up to a certain point, receive the same pre- 
paratory treatment. The package of wool from the 
sheep ranch is received with harsh treatment, being 
severely beaten to drive out dust, open up the staple, 
and increase the volume of the fiber. Then, like cot- 
ton, it is scoured, and next dyed or bleached, and dried 
in great automatic driers. Like cotton, it is next given 
to the revolving drums, equipped with sharp teeth, and 
is disentangled. Another machine pounds it to crush 
out the burrs, or else it is treated with chloride of 
aluminum and other chemicals to decompose the or- 
ganic matter. Then it is again washed in soda solu- 
tion to destroy the vegetable matter or any cotton 
shoddy that may be mixed with the wool. It now is 
^ry and brittle, and oil must be added to it. Then 
comes the carding operation, as with cotton, from 
which it emerges in narrow strips or slivers, and is 
then spun into yarn. But to make worsted requires 
a different process from woolen yarn. Worsted is 
a very hard thread, while the fibers of woolen yarn 
project slightly from the main thread and form the 
nap of the finished cloth. 

**The worsted machines are ingenious. One, the 
gilling machine, levels the fibers and makes them lie 
parallel, one pair of rollers pulling the yarn over 
heavy steel bars, fallers, covered with projecting pins, 
the pins becoming finer and more numerous as the 
fiber travels through the machine. From here is goes 
to a machine to be spun into a very hard, twisted 
thread. Then it is ready for weaving. 

** Weaving consists essentially of three movements. 
First the threads of the warp are separated, so as to 
permit the filling thread to interlace. The second is 
the interlacing, or the passing of the shuttle contain- 
ing the filling thread, or woof. The third is the crowd- 

358 



STORY OF WOOL 



ing of the threads together into a compact web. This 
is the method, but not the means, by which the Egyp- 
tians wove their mummy cloths, the Greeks their fine 
tapestries and damasks, the natives of India their fine 
muslins and their Cashmere shawls. But theirs was 
done by crude looms of simple mechanism, and by 
hand. From that time to the modern automatic power 
looms many improvements have been made. John 
Kay gave to the world, in 1733, his flying shuttle, and, 
in 1760, the drop-box, an attachment by which dif- 
ferent colored threads could be woven into the fabric. 
In 1784, the Reverend Edmund Cartwright invented 
the power loom and revolutionized the industry. Next 
Joseph Jacquard, of France, invented, in 1801, a loom 
for weaving figured patterns. Leonardo da Vinci, the 
painter of *Mona Lisa,* invented the machine which is 
used to-day to trim the pile of cloth. 

^^The last operations upon the fabric are to wash 
and shrink it, and then to teasle it, to raise the nap 
of the cloth. Then Da Vinci's machine trims the pile, 
the cloth is brushed, wound around drums, and soaked 
in hot water for three hours, steam being afterward 
forced through by hydraulic pressure. It is dried, 
and then it is ready for the tailor. Despite these many 
complicated processes, wool has been clipped from a 
sheep in the morning and appeared at nightfall in a 
suit of clothes!'' 



24 



359 



THE STORY OF THE TANNER AND 
HIS HIDES OF LEATHER 



"1% yTY trade/* began tlie next Story-teller, as lie 
l^yX stood by the library table, ^'is the oldest occu- 
pation of mankind, excepting possibly hunting. 
I am a tanner, a worker in leather.'' His limbs trem- 
bled \vith age ; his face looked like the leather he made ; 
his hands were calloused and toughened by chemicals. 

^'I clothe the feet and hands of humanity," he con- 
tinued. "I, and my fellow-workers, upholster its fur- 
niture and kindred articles of civilization, spin the in- 
dustrial machines with great leathern belts, which, in 
smaller strips and lengths, humanity binds about its 
waist, or pastes within its hat. You will find my han- 
diwork wherever you look. 

*^Mine is an honored trade. The cave-man by his 
crude methods, made leather of a kind for himself; 
the Egyptians, the ancient Hebrews, the Romans, in 
fact all races, even the aborigines, used it in various 
forms. We of the modern generations — there are over 
200,000 of us in all the branches of the industry in the 
United States — use methods unknown to the ancients. 
We are employed in about 5,000 establishments in this 
country, and we earn more than $100,000,000 each year. 
We import from all the countries of the world — the 
United States cannot begin to meet our demand — 
more than $120,000,000 worth of hides and skins, 
stripped from the backs of cattle, horses, buffalo, 
sheep, goats, kangaroos, pigs, and even the fish of the 
sea, and many other kinds of animals. If all the ani- 

360 



STORY OF LEATHER 



mals could be gathered into one continuous line they 
would, I have no doubt, reach many times around the 
earth. 

^* Leather tanning has kept pace with civilization," 
the tanner continued. *^The world's chemists and its 
mechanics have contributed of their genius to give us 
modern tanners better methods than those employed 
by the early generations, and therefore we can pro- 
duce a much better grade and in many more different 
forms and kinds. There was a time when the tanner 
was despised. The ancient Hebrews, notably in the 
city of Joppa, where Simon the Tanner lived, com- 
pelled the tanners to work outside of the city limits. 
This has changed, and to-day we are accepted in so- 
ciety and cities as industrial benefactors. 

*^The average American, when he slips on his easy- 
fitting shoe in the morning, does not realize what a 
tremendous amount of time and labor it represents. 
I have not time to take you into the intricacies of the 
trade; it would require many hours and would fill a 
volume. Did you know that it requires about 120 days 
just to convert the green hide into leather suitable for 
the shoe manufacturer to cut out his shoe soles? It is 
a long process, during which the hide is soaked and 
cleaned of its hair and such particles of flesh as es- 
caped the skinning knife; it is doused in tanning 
liquids and chemicals of many kinds, rubbed and 
scrubbed and kneaded and stored away in tan bark, 
some of which comes from far distant Asia, Greece, or 
Central and South America. 

** There are other methods. One is known as the 
chrome process and involves the use of such chemi- 
cals as bichromate of potash, hydrochloric acid, hypo- 
sulphite of soda, and various dyes. Glazed kid leather 
is treated in this way. Black leather, such as is used 
in black gloves, passes through yolks of eggs, flour, 

361 



WONDER STORIES 



alum, salt, lime, and bran, while patent leather is made 
by successive applications of lamp-black mixed with 
linseed oil and turpentine, with a month's interrup- 
tion, during which it is allowed to dry, and a final 
coating of varnish, which is baked on in hot ovens and 
then exposed to the sun for a day. 

^^Who was the first American tanner f inquired 
one of the gathering. 

*' History does not tell us,'' replied the tanner. ^^It 
has been said that the Pilgrims, not intending to walk 
barefoot in the New World, brought over a cordwainer 
to make boots. The first tannery mentioned in 
America is the Virginian establishment which began 
operations in the same year that Boston was founded, 
1630. It was only a matter of a year or so before 
Francis Ingalls had one established in the Massachu- 
setts Colony, in Swampscott. In those days our trade 
was considered of such vital importance that the au- 
thorities issued strict laws that whenever an animal was 
killed, its hide must be saved for the neighborhood 
leather maker, and also laws that prohibited, under 
heavy penalty, hides being exported. Under this pro- 
tection the industry flourished, especially that of mak- 
ing shoes. Up and down the length of the land passed 
those itinerant shoemakers, whipping the cat, they 
called it, stopping in the settlements to mend or make 
the shoes, just like the scissor-grinder does to-day. 

*^ Humanity's feet evidently were not designed to 
walk over this earth unshod. Even the cave-man 
bound his feet with protecting covers. We know that 
the Egyptians used foot-coverings, for they are shown 
in sculpture and picture and were made sandal-shaped 
of interlaced palm leaves and papyrus stalks, the toes 
turning up like Dutch ice-skates. Grecian women went 
in more for style, having a sole and upper lined with 
cat's fur, the claws drooping down from the top. Shoes 

362 



STORY OF LEATHER 



have passed through as many evolutions of styles as 
have women's hats and, like them, they have been the 
subjects of much adornment and comment. Henry 
IV. of Sicily wore shoes made of cloth of gold and 
adorned with pearls. 

**Many great Americans have been shoemakers,'' 
exclaimed the tanner. ^'One whom you will all recall 
was Eoger Sherman, who worked at the bench for 
twenty-two years. From the old-time shoemaker's 
bench to the modern shoe factory there intervenes but 
little more than a century of practice. The battle of 
New Orleans was but a year old when J. W. Hopkin- 
ton invented the shoe-pegging machine, one of the first 
steps toward the modern era of shoe machinery 

*^If you have never been in one of the New Eng- 
land shoe shops, as they are to-day, you cannot ap- 
preciate the wonderful intelligence of the machines. 
They perform all the work, from cutting out the 
leather to putting on the finishing polish. There are 
machines that sew the uppers together, make and at- 
tach the toe-caps, fasten in accurately the eyelets, fit 
the uppers over the lasts so that they fit the foot like 
a glove, cut grooves, and trim, nail, and stitch inner 
and outer soles together and then to the upper, level 
the soles and heels, which are nailed on by machinery, 
to a uniform thickness, and then sandpaper them, and 
finally bevel, blacken and burnish the heels and soles 
with hot irons. The finished product is the pride of 
America and is pronounced by the world as the finest 
shoe made. The American shoemakers are turning 
out their product at the rate of 250,000,000 shoes every 
year, enough to give every individual in our nation, 
whether he wears shoes or not, two and a half pairs. 
This, then, is the story of leather." 



363 



THE STORY, OF THE PIN-MAKER AND 
WHAT HE HAS DONE 



t i^HE biggest things in the world are not always 



a 



the most wonderful/' remarked the little 
maiden with golden hair and deep blue eyes. 
We have heard so much about gigantic things 
that I shall tell you about one of the smallest things 
in the world — and yet one of the greatest. I am going 
to make a plea for this ! ' ' 

She held on her finger tips the tiny object. 

^*It is only a pin/' said the girl; *^a common, ordi- 
nary, everyday pin — ^thrown away as worthless when 
you do not need it, and yet worth its weight in gold 
when you do need it! 

**This despised little pin," she continued, *'is 
woman 's best friend — and worst enemy. Some people 
think that women are made of pins. It might be more 
truthfully said that pins make the woman — for with- 
out them she falls apart. All women are created free 
and equal when it comes to pins. The pin reigns 
supreme in the boudoirs of queen and maid, palace 
and hovel ; it knows both riches and poverty. ' ' 

**Do you know," exclaimed the witty Story-teller, 
*^that, when you come to investigate civilization, you 
will find that it is only * pinned' together? Take the 
pins out of our modern society, and there would be 
a shocking state of affairs. When we decided to step 
out from barbarism and wear clothes, the humble little 
pin was the guide that led the way — and since that day 
there have been frequent occasions in the lives of all 

364 



STORY OF THE PIN 



men and women, great and small, when the pin is the 
;^innacle of hope ! ' ^ 

Good humored laughter interrupted the speaker for 
a moment. 

^*Let us look into the life-story of the pin,'' she 
continued. *^It is an important factor in the world's 
history. Nature gave the pattern for the pin in the 
thorn. We find that, in one form or another, pins are 
of the highest antiquity, the earliest form being a 
natural thorn, such as is still to be seen fastening the 
dresses of the peasant women in Upper Egypt. Its 
name is derived from the Latin spina — a thorn. 
Spina Christi is the name of the tree on which grow 
the large thorns used as pins in Egypt. 

^^ During the Palaeolithic and Neolithic periods, 
pins, or ^clothes fasteners,' were made of bone from 
the fibula of some animal; they were split and then 
rubbed to a point. With the coming of the Bronze Age, 
pins were made of bronze — a composition metal of 
copper and tin. The development of clothing ren- 
dered a more finely tapered and highly polished pin 
necessary, and later on an attempt at ornamentation 
was made. Nothing radically new in the shape of 
pins has been invented since the Bronze Age. 

*^Pins are mentioned in the Bible, and the Hebrew 
word refers to tent pins. But long, stiletto pins were 
found in Egyptian deposits as early as 1200 B. C. 
Pins of this character, with ribbed handles, were un- 
earthed at Cyprus and Sparta. They were prodigious 
pins of such size and strength that, in the hands of 
excited women, they were considered dangerous. 

*' Herodotus relates the tragedy of a disastrous 
expedition of the Athenians early in the sixth century, 
when only one man returned alive; the wives of all 
those who had fallen in battle were so infuriated with 
the unfortunate man for having escaped, when their 

365 



WONDER STORIES 



own husbands liad perished, that they killed him with 
pins! As a future safeguard, a different style of 
dress was afterward imposed on Athenian women, 
which did not require such large pins, but was secured 
by being sewn on the shoulders. The ancients also 
wore pins in their hair. 

*^The primitive safety-pin was the earliest form 
of the brooch. It was in full use in Northern Italy 
before the end of the Bronze Age. The birth of the 
safety-pin is an interesting anecdote. In the lake 
dwellings of ancient Italy, long, slender pins of bronze 
were a characteristic feature ; one was crooked to form 
a head, and the other was elaborated into a spiral. 
One day, a necessity arose for *some one' to fasten 
his, or her, body covering with greater security than 
that afforded by an ordinary pin. This *some one' 
conceived the idea of bending the body of the pin, after 
passing it through the garment, and securing the point 
behind the head. Then an ingenious person — ^prob- 
ably a woman — thought of the brilliant idea of giving 
a complete turn to the pin and thus getting a spring. 
The earliest type of these safety-pins was found in the 
graves of children and date to the fifteenth century 
before Christ. The safety-pin went through many 
evolutions in shape and style; it was made of varied 
metals, bronze, iron, and gold, but it is the primitive 
and simplest form which is in use at the present time." 

** Coming now to comparatively modern times," 
said the Story-teller, **pins, in their present form, 
though probably coarser, were in use in France in the 
first half of the fourteenth century. There seemed 
always a tendency to make them long. Women pinned 
their veils, whimples, stomachers, lappets, kerchiefs, 
using them in great quantities — a dishful, one his- 
torian explains. Twelve thousand pins were delivered 
for the wardrobe of a French princess in 1347. 

366 



STORY OF THE PIN 



*^The first date given when an English queen re- 
ceived pins from France is 1540. And England con- 
tinued to receive pins from France until about 1626, 
when John Tilsby introduced the manufacture into 
Gloucestershire. He gave employment to fifteen hun- 
dred people, and Stroud pins gained a high reputation. 
The pinmakers of London formed a corporation in 
1636. Metal pins were expensive luxuries, owing to 
the amount of hard labor involved. They were given 
as New Year's gifts, and there was an ancient tax to 
provide the queen with pins. 

*^The attention of the American colonists was 
drawn to the manufacture of pins by the offer of 
prizes for the first native-made pins in 1775 — the year 
of the Battle of Bunker Hill. The price of pins rose 
enormously. But, even prior to this action of the 
colonists, Nathaniel Robbinson, a 'wyer drawer,' peti- 
tioned the General Court for aid in establishing the 
pin business, but the Court did not see fit to grant his 
request. Another member of the Plymouth Colony 
made a similar request — Joseph Jenks, Sr. 

*^ During the American Revolution, pins were made 
by Jeremiah Wilkinson, also famous in connection with 
needles and nails, who drew the wire himself for the 
manufacture. Up to this time, the heads of the pins 
were made of a fine wire, twisted firmly about the top 
of the body of the pin. Samuel Slocum, of Rhode 
Island, who had patented a pin-making machine some 
twenty-five years before, now commenced their manu- 
facture in Providence, and Leonard Chester, of Weth- 
ersfield, Connecticut, proposed to the legislature to 
erect a pin factory in that state. 

**A few years later, Apollos Hinsley, a doctor, 
living in Connecticut, invented a pin-making machine. 
Then followed the action of the Provisional Congress, 
offering fifty pounds for the first twenty-five pins of 

367 



WONDER STORIES 



domestic make, equal to those imported from England 
and costing seven shillings and sixpence a dozen, show- 
ing the scarcity and high cost prior to the Revolution. 

*'The modern pin is an American product. The 
beautiful automatic machinery by which pins are now 
made of wire is an invention of Seth Hunt, an Amer- 
ican, who, in 1871, created a ^ solid headed' pin. 
Samuel Wright, of Massachusetts, a young engineer, 
patented a pin-maMng machine in England in 1824. 
He was residing at the time in Middlesex, and his 
invention placed the industry on its present basis. 

^^Did you ever visit a modern pin factory? The 
machinery is truly marvelous. Wire of a suitable 
gauge is run off a reel with almost magical speed. It 
is drawn in and straightened by passing between 
straightening pins or studs set in a table. When a 
pin length has entered, it is caught by lateral jaws, 
beyond which enough wire projects to form a pin- 
head. The steel punch advances against this end and 
strikes a terrific blow which compresses the metal by 
a die arrangement into the form of a head. The pin 
length is immediately cut off, and the headed piece 
drops into a slit sufficiently wide to pass the wire 
through but retain the head. The pins are conse- 
quently suspended by the head, while their projecting 
points are held against a revolving file-cut steel roller, 
along the face of which they are carried by gravitation 
till they fall out at the extremity, well pointed pins. 

**The pins are next purified by boiling, and so 
cleaned. They are arranged in a copper pan in layers, 
alternating with layers of grained tin. The contents 
of the pan are covered with water over which a quan- 
tity of bitartrate of potash is sprinkled, and, after 
boiling several hours, the brass pins are coated with 
a thick deposit of tin, which gives them their silvery 
appearance. They are then washed in clean water 

368 



STORY OF THE PIN 



and dried in sawdust, from which they are winnowed — 
finished pins. Mourning pins are made of iron wire, 
finished by immersing in black Japan and drying in 
a stove. The sizes of ordinary pins range from the 
three and one-half inch stout blanket pins to the finest 
slender gilt pins used by entomologists, 4,500 of which 
weigh about an ounce. ^' 

*^How many pins a year does it take to hold the 
American people together? '' asked one of the listeners, 
who feasts on figures. 

** About forty billion pins a year." 

**Is there any romance connected with the pin?" 
inquired a maiden lady. 

**Eomance!" ejaculated the Story-teller. **Why, 
the pin is the most romantic object in the world. No 
one knows what a subtle part it plays in deftly 
pricking lovers' fingers and breaking up courtships. 
In the old days of witchcraft one way of proving that 
a woman was a witch was to stick her with a pin. 

**In America, the pin has not played as important 
a part in the light of superstition, religion, charms, 
and the like. But, in the Old World, many myths 
cluster about the crooked pins of Ireland; the holy 
wells in Scotland, where, whenever a pin is dropped 
in with fervent faith, all the other pins rise up to greet 
the new one ; the pin games of England ; and the pin 
shows, recurring like our marble and kite seasons. It 
is said that if pins continue to be lost, the whole world 
will some day be a mass of pins. 

**So it is not surprising," concluded the vivacious 
young Story-teller, **that women are inclined to pin 
their faith on pins rather than men. And so it is that 
the pin is mightier than the sword ! ' ' 



369 



THE STORY OF THE NEEDLEWORKER 
AND HER SERVICE TO THE WORLD 



"T F a monument is ever to be erected to the smallest 

X object that has done the greatest good in the 

world," shouted a woman's shrill voice from the 

settee near the potted palm, ^4t will be in everlasting 

tribute to the needle!" 

^^Tell us your story, then!" called a score of voices 
from the different parts of the library. 

The woman was attractively attired in a plain black 
dress. There was a tired expression on her thin face. 
Her hands were somewhat calloused by years of hard 
work. 

*^I am a seamstress," she began. ^^I came here 
to-day to defend the needle, for I knew that it would 
be neglected. But I love it; it is woman's staunchest 
friend, and I could not bear to see it forgotten." 

*^It may be," she continued, ^Hhat you Story-tellers 
are right when you tell us about the great things that 
have made civilization, but I claim that the needle is 
the little magic worker that keeps civilization * sewed 
up ' — and that is no mean accomplishment. The pin is 
the laziest thing on earth, while the needle is the most 
industrious. The needle is no sluggard nor schemer. 
It does not shirk work by shifting the responsibility; 
it does its work well. It does not cover up our sins 
of omission — it removes them!" 

The listeners thoroughly enjoyed the gibe and ex- 
pressed their approval by clapping their hands. 

**As we sit here telling these stories," continued 
the loyal seamstress, **more than a million women sit 

370 



STORY OF THE NEEDLE 



by their firesides in the homes of the nation, indus- 
triously creating objects of usefulness and beauty with 
the magical little needle in their deft fingers. The 
needle is, without doubt, the world's greatest industry. 
It employs the hours, the minds, and hands, and the 
tongues of more women than any other object ever 
conceived by the ingenuity of men ! ' * 

The listeners again broke into hearty laughter. 

*^The needle,'' continued the seamstress, ^'is the 
little wonder worker in our homes. It takes part in 
our courtships by adding to the natural charms of the 
maidens. It enters into our love affairs by creating 
dainty frocks to enhance their beauty. It makes the 
wedding gown; it goes on the honeymoon; it figura- 
tively creates the home. It prepares for the baby; it 
designs the little robes for the heir to the new kingdom 
of love; it contrives and repairs and patches his gar- 
ments through his childhood ; it sends him out in youth 
garbed for the world's struggles; it follows him 
through the seven ages of man — and it folds him peace- 
fully in his last resting robes when sweet peace comes 
at last. The needle, therefore, is the beginning and 
the end of life." 

The listeners applauded enthusiastically. 

** Needle making," explained the seamstress, ^^was 
one of the first arts practiced by man. Needles of fish- 
bone, horse bone, and bronze have been found in caves 
in France and in Central Europe. In Egyptian and 
Scandinavian tombs, and among early European and 
Western Asiatic peoples, bronze needles, two and one- 
half to eight inches long, were found — ^huge, clumsy 
affairs. Steel needles were made in Nuremburg 
toward the close of the fourteenth century. At a later 
period, Spanish needles were in great demand. The 
Germans planted the trade in England, where it has 
been established for over two centuries. 

371 



WONDER STORIES 



^^ There are no records of the industry in America 
during the Colonial period, but Lynn, Massachusetts, 
applied to the Court of Plymouth in 1666, for the sum 
of fifteen pounds for the purchase of tools for wire 
drawing to make needles. Tools were bought, and 
manufacture begun. Jeremiah Wilkinson, of Cumber- 
land, Ehode Island, the inventor of cut nails, made 
needles in 1775. Needle manufacture as an industry 
was put on a permanent basis in the United States in 
1852, when the type of needle used in machinery was 
introduced. 

*^As the sewing machine is an American produc- 
tion, so its most important feature is the needle con- 
structed by Elias Howe, for the making of the lock 
stitch. When the sewing machine was first made, 
needle-making was a process similar to the English 
method, requiring much manual labor. The reducing 
of the 'shank' and putting in the grooves on the side 
of the needle was done by stamping between dies. 
Gradually these operations were replaced by rolling, 
grinding, turning and milling — and the world was 
flooded with needles; needles with round points for 
sewing cloth; needles with points of different shapes 
for sewing leather, twist needles, reverse twist, wedge, 
cross, chisel, reverse chisel, diamond needles. An in- 
teresting needle is used in making boots and shoes. 
Then there is a special needle used in making hoisery 
and in stockinet work. 

** Inventive genius has worked over the needle for 
ages. Like everything else, it is constantly subject to 
improvements. Drill-eyed needles were made in 1826. 
As early as 1800, the inventive genius of an unknown 
American saw the possibility of a stamp to impress 
the point of the groove and a press to pierce the eye, 
but this idea did not produce results until 1886'. A 
Mr. Morrall, of New England, invented a machine in 

372 



STORY OF THE NEEDLE 



1839 for polishing thousands of needles simultane- 
ously; a Mr. Lake, of New England, made further im- 
provements in 1869. But it was not until 1860 that 
the manufacture of needles was reported to the census. 

* * Since that day, the needle has played a distinctive 
part in the progress of civilization. Its varied uses 
give to it a utility unquestioned, whether in the hands 
of the tailor, the shoemaker, the surgeon, while the 
usefulness of the needle in the hands of the modern 
woman is a story of such wonderful significance as to 
put it ahead of almost all stories of modern industry. 
It has its artistic and aesthetic side, the lace-making, 
the delicate and intricate embroideries — all the count- 
less beautiful designs which could not be carried out 
without the needle. 

^^It may interest some of my women friends, as 
well as the men,'' suggested the Story-teller, *Ho hear 
how wonderfully the needle is made to-day. Take one 
in your hand and look at it carefully. Then imagine 
it passing through all these struggles to get into ex- 
istence. It begins in huge bars of steel. These are 
reduced by wire-drawing machines to a suitable diam- 
eter. The ends of a few wires in each bundle are cut 
off, ignited, and hardened by plunging them into cold 
water. They are then snapped between the fingers in 
order to judge their quality. The bundles belonging 
to the most brittle wires are set aside to be employed 
in making peculiar kinds of needles. The quality of 
the steel wire has to be ascertained by a careful gauge, 
and then the coil is cut with mechanical shears. The 
wire is now passed under a guillotine shearing ma- 
chine, which cuts it into the desired length of the 
needle. These lengths of wire have been raised to a 
dull red heat by being worked back and forth, until, 
by combined pressure and rolling, the lengths become 
perfectly straight and even. 

373 



WONDER STORIES 



*'How does a needle get its point? It is dry 
grindstone, revolving at high speed, which creates the 
sparks and dust so injurious to the workmen. A 
grinder holds at one time several dozen wires against 
the stone with his left hand and revolves them slightly 
with his right. He will point about 100,000 needles 
a day." 

** How does the needle get its eye?" asked one of* 
the listeners. 

**It has it punched in," answered the Story-teller, 
with a laugh. **Wire blanks are automatically fed 
into a swift, belt-driven machine and held while two 
oval holes are quickly punched by another belt-driven 
punching machine. After being eyed, the needles must 
be filed smooth. They are threaded together with a 
fine wire passed through the eyes, giving the appear- 
ance of a fine, close-set comb. Each side is clamped 
up tightly and the heads are smoothed and rounded 
before the needles are set free. 

**What makes the needle brittle? The hardening 
and tempering process. They are placed in an iron 
tray, heated to redness ; then they are plunged into an 
oil bath; they must now be re-heated until they turn 
a straw color, and are then gradually cooled. By the 
old process of tempering, they were thrown into a 
frying-pan along with a quantity of grease. 

**What gives the needles their polish? It is done 
by giving them a good scrubbing. The needles are 
put up in bundles of several thousands and thrown into 
soft soap, oil, and emery powder in a tightly tied 
canvas cover. The needles are actually put to bed, 
that is, in the bed of a machine, in which they are kept 
rolling backward and forward so that each individual 
needle rubs against its neighbor. After a time, the 
bundles are withdrawn. The needles are washed, 
dried, and again bundled up, but this time with putty 

374 




"GOING DOWN TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA" 

See page 307. 



STORY OF THE NEEDLE 



powder instead of emery. Then they are rolled again 
until their surfaces are sufficiently polished. Now 
they are unpacked, washed in an alkaline solution, and 
dried in sawdust. 

*^But the greatest task is yet to come. The heads 
must all be brought into one direction. The needles 
are conveyed to trays where they are brought parallel 
to each other by a sharp, jerking motion. Then a 
* header' presses a lot of needles against a cloth finger, 
and the faulty needles are picked out. The heads are 
now all laid in one direction. This is not all; there 
must be the smoothing and rounding of the eyeholes 
to prevent the breaking of the thread in sewing; the 
heads must be blued by heating, then strung on a 
roughened steel wire, over which a paste of emery 
and oil is spread, and the smoothing process is done 
by friction. Then the blue color must be removed by 
a grindstone, and a final polish is given by a rapidly 
revolving buff wheel aided by putty powder. Finally, 
the little needles that have endured these hardships 
are gathered into papers and given long rides on the 
freight trains, wandering through various cities and 
stores, until at last they find an abiding place in some- 
body's home and begin their household duties like 
faithful slaves. 

**I trust,'' said the seamstress, in ending her story, 
*Hhat hereafter you will all have more respect for the 
little needle which goes through a discipline so severe, 
a test so supreme, to give it the heroic qualities of 
great endurance." 



25 375 



THE STORY OF THE WEAVER AND HIS 
WONDERFUL SKEINS OF THREAD 



"T IFE hangs by a thread. When the thread is 
1 ^ broken, life ends." 

Thus spoke a woman, bent and old, with 
thread-worn hands. The tremor of age quivered on 
her lips. 

^'I am a weaver," she said. '^I am one of the 
legions of women who weave the slender threads into 
the fabrics of life. There are more than a half mil- 
lion in my profession in the United States to-day. 

*^I have listened with interest to the story of the 
needle, but thought how helpless it would be, if it were 
not for that little thread, as delicate as the spider's 
web, that follows so faithfully wherever it is led. The 
needle only blazes the path; it is the pilot — ^it is the 
thread that bears the burden of humanity. 

^^It requires about fifty million miles of thread, of 
all kinds, to hold the American people in their 
clothes!" was the next startling statement. ^^To 
weave this vast web, there were, in 1911, more estab- 
lishments manufacturing textiles in the United States 
than there were factories making furniture and re- 
frigerators for our homes. They represented a total 
capital investment of more than $3^000,000,000 — a sum 
sufficient to instantly discharge Italy's total public 
debt in the same year. During the working day, more 
than 29,000,000 spindles sing their songs of industrial 
prosperity. 

'' Everyone is familiar with the little spools on 
which cotton thread is wound, probably has, as a boy 

376 



STORY OF THREAD 



or girl, tied one onto a string for the cat to play 
with," continued the speaker. 

**Do you realize what mighty forests have been 
leveled to supply these spools?" inquired the weaver. 
*' There is one company whose annual output of cot- 
ton thread is wound on spools which would form a 
mighty pillar over 700 miles above the earth's surface, 
if all the spools were stood on end, one on the other. 
If some one could wrap the earth in a brown paper, 
this company could supply the thread necessary to tie 
the bundle." 

*^Who invented thread — the modern cotton thread 
which we use?" inquired one Story-teller. 

^^An American woman, I am proud to say, a woman 
whose name was Mrs. Samuel Slater and who resided 
at the time, in 1794, in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, is 
said to have discovered that cotton fiber was superior 
to flax and induced her husband to use it in his factory. 
There is another story — ^history is rather uncertain 
about the invention of commonplace things, you 
know — ^that Napoleon was indirectly responsible for 
its beginning in Europe. He found a vast stock of 
silk in Hamburg, in 1803, and, thinking to destroy Eng- 
land's commerce in this commodity, had it burned. He 
succeeded in driving the makers of heddle-twine and 
heddles in Paisley, Scotland, to the substitution of cot- 
ton for silk in making heddles, a fortunate cir- 
cumstance for Europe. 

**That was the beginning of making modern 
thread," the weaver resumed. ^*But one of the chief 
occupations of Colonial American housewives was that 
of weaving — an occupation that is counted as one of 
the oldest in civilization. Indeed, there is no record 
of when spinning-v/heels began to turn. The com- 
plete story of the development of the fine six-corded 
spool cotton of to-day from the old-fashioned hand- 

377 



WONDER STORIES 



made yarn involves a large part of the romance of hu- 
man invention and almost the whole history of me- 
chanical progress; it could not be given without ac- 
counts of the inventions and improvements of the 
cotton-gin, the spinning- jenny, the 'mule,' the water- 
wheel, the steam-engine, and countless other contriv- 
ances for quick and accurate work. 

*'The spinning-wheel still holds an honored posi- 
tion in many American homes, though now they are 
kept as relics, their wheels forever silent. They have 
a distinguished lineage, dating back for ages, for, until 
the beginning of the nineteenth century, they had not 
changed materially in cardinal principles. The Eo- 
man maiden made her thread with the distaff; the 
weavers of ancient India made their wonderful silks 
and shawls, some of the latter, it is said, so delicate as 
to permit folding away inside a walnut shell, with 
spindles and distaff operated by hand. The threads 
of the delicate, sheer fabrics of India were spun upon 
a spindle no larger than a darning needle. 

^'I have often wondered how thread is made," said 
one Story-teller, a man. 

**If you could follow," replied the woman, ''an 
individual fiber of cotton from the bale to the finished 
spool of thread, you would find that it had traveled 
over more than three thousand miles of space, and had 
passed through many complicated machines. My 
story begins with the opening of the bale, after which 
it goes to be scoured with soda, and then on to the 
hooked teeth of revolving drums, which tear the staple 
into a filmy mass. Next, the picker loosens the fibers 
at the rate of a thousand pounds a day. Before the 
invention of this machine, one man could not clean 
enough to make a yard of cloth in a day's time. The 
picker gives it up almost in the form of cotton-batting, 
which the carding machine seizes in its fairy-like hands 

378 



STORY OF THREAD 



and smoothes out, much as milady brushes her hair, 
into a gossamer web that is even, and clean, and al- 
most light enough to float in air. This filmy mass is 
sent to series of rollers to be ^ drawn,' one of the 
most important parts of thread-making. The different 
rollers revolve at varying speeds. If one set, for in- 
stance, turns ten times as fast as the other, the strand 
that passes out between them is, of course, ten times 
lengthened and ten times as fine as the original. This 
is called a ^ draft of ten.' The drawing may be in any 
ratio, and any number of strands may be run to- 
gether into one at the same time that that is drawn. 

^^This process of uniting strands is called doubling. 
The operation is repeated again and again, until the 
original strand, if it could be followed up, would be 
found to be reduced to millionths of its original size. 
The doubling from first to last is about ninety million 
times ! During these doubling operations, another ma- 
chine, the guardian of the future thread, takes 
the ^slivers,' as they are called in this condition, 
and combs them over and over, taking out all for- 
eign substances, and even short fibers, allowing only 
the suitable staples for making the best thread to 
pass its inspection. The next operation is roving, 
the twisting of the sliver so that it will not break. 

'^The resultant strand is known as * roving' after 
this operation, and is wound on bobbins, which are then 
put upon the *mule' or ring spinners. The thread 
is led between rollers of graduated speeds for 
another drawing and attached to bobbins. The frame 
of bobbins, or spindles, moves away and the spindles 
begin to revolve, and at once the strand is drawn by 
the motion of the frame and twisted by the revolution 
of the spindles. When the length taken out has re- 
ceived sufficient twist, the spindle gathers it in and 
winds it up as it goes back for a fresh start. 

379 



WONDER STORIES 



^^The ^mule' rivals the spider; it spins so delicately 
that a single pound is often one hundred and ninety 
miles long, or almost the distance from New York to 
Boston, or more than from New York to Baltimore. 

*^I cannot describe the sights and sounds of a 
thread mill,'' continued the weaver. ^'The rooms re- 
sound with the buzz of machinery, the whirling of 
belts, the clatter of spindles revolving from five to 
ten thousand times a minute, and the rush of men, 
women, and children dancing attendance upon these 
tiny threads, which can hardly be seen across the room. 

'* After the making is complete, the skeins are 
marked, each with a special knot, to indicate their 
size and then given to an inspector, who instantly re- 
jects those below standard. Then it is washed and 
either bleached or dyed, and given to the winding 
machine, which automatically winds the finished prod- 
uct upon the spools, fitting each layer to the widen- 
ing space upon the spool, filling all up as evenly as 
though the thread were forced into place by hydraulic 
pressure. The ticketing machine is a wizard. One girl 
supplies it with sheets of printed labels, and another 
feeds it with spools ; it does all the rest itself, cutting 
out, pasting, and fastening the proper mark for each 
end of the spool, at the rate of a hundred a minute. 

**When you get home to-night," said the old 
weaver in conclusion, '^tske a spool and examine it; 
see if the strength throughout its length is not uni- 
form ; try to find any flaws or uneven spots in it ; slide 
it over your finger and think of all that has been done 
to give it this uniformity, and decide then whether the 
genius of man is not a wonderful thing. ' ' 



380 



THE STORY OF THE MATCHMAKER 
AND HIS MAGIC FIRE 



THE grizzly old man who sat in a dark corner of 
the room looked about him in curiosity. Then^ 
fumbling in his pockets, he withdrew a disrep- 
utable looking match and scratched it on the sole of 
his shoe. Holding it over his head, it flickered like a 
miniature torch. 

*^ Friends,'' he said, in a husky voice, *^I hold in 
my hand the greatest miracle in the history of man- 
kind. On the point of that tiny stick I hold the great- 
est power on earth — fire! This harmless appearing 
little stick which we call a match is in reality both a 
god and a demon. It is within its power to destroy 
the greatest city ever built — or to kindle the flaming 
furnaces which can build a greater city than human 
eyes have yet seen. It is both the best friend and the 
crudest enemy that mankind has ever known." 

The Story-tellers drew their chairs nearer the 
picturesque stranger. 

*'I am a matchmaker," he said, introducing him- 
self, *^and I will tell you the story of how we came 
to conquer the demon fire and imprison it on the end 
of a stick, so that we could carry it in our pockets 
without endangering our lives. 

^^The whole secret of civilization," he began, *4s 
fire. The use of this marks the first step up from the 
brute. The lowest savages knew the use of fire and 
kept it perpetually burning amongst their tribes. The 
Alaskan rubs together two pieces of quartz, which 

381 



WONDER STORIES 



have been smeared with native sulphur, and catches 
the spark in the dry grass. Some people strike fire 
with qnartz and steel, quartz and pyrites, and even 
broken china and bamboo. I have seen them do this 
in the interior of China and amongst the East Indian 
tribes. In some countries they run a blunt stick along 
a groove of its own making, until the heat generated 
by the friction produces smoke and then flame. I 
have heard that the burning lens was used in ancient 
Eome and Athens. I can remember when our great- 
grandfathers used the tinder-box with the first brim- 
stone match. It was a strip of dry pine six inches in 
length, dipped in melted sulphur, which was applied 
to the tinder spark. 

^'I shall never forget the bewilderment that was 
caused when the instantaneous light box was in- 
vented," exclaimed the old Story-teller. ^'The first 
friction match was the Lucifer,' invented by Walker, 
an Englishman, in 1827. It consisted of a strip of 
dried wood, coated at the point with melted brimstone. 
It was then dipped into a solution composed of chlorate 
of potash and sulphuret of antimony, which had been 
rendered adhesive with powdered gum. A few years 
later. Walker introduced the use of phosphorus. 

^'But it was the Americans who made the match 
what it is to-day and started the custom by which 
every man to-day carries fire in his vest pocket. In 
the year 1836, Alonzo Phillips, of Springfield, Massa- 
chusetts, brought out an improved friction match. The 
body was of wood. The head was coated with phos- 
phorus and niter, or with phosphorus, sulphur, and 
chlorate of potash mixed with gum and coloring mat- 
ter. This was the day of the ^wax vesta' — a match 
with a wax body. The wax taper was then in univer- 
sal use to carry the fire from room to room. 

382 



STORY OF FIRE 



*^ American genius solved the problem. In the year 
1842, Reuben Partridge patented the first splint-cut- 
ting machine, which made possible the production of 
matches on a large scale and speedily reduced the ex- 
travagant price which had been paid for them. Thir- 
teen years later, a Swede named Lundstrom brought 
out the first * safety match, ^ which ignited only upon 
the box. This was a very simple contrivance, and 
consisted merely in omitting the sulphur from the 
match and coating the side of the box with it. 

^*It was about this time,'' said the old match- 
maker, ^Hhat trouble began. The matchmakers were 
seized with a sudden illness and died in great agony. 
It was found that the * match factory' was a death- 
trap. The yellow phosphorus caused a terrible dis- 
ease called ^phossy jaw' — a painful and deadly disease 
of the jawbone. Inventive genius came to the rescue, 
and a man named Schotter discovered a red phos- 
phorus that did not cause this awful blight. So all 
civilized nations began to compel the use of the red 
phosphorus — and the matchmaking industry has be- 
come one of the marvels of the age." 

'^How many boxes of matches are used each day 
in the United States?" inquired one of the listeners. 

^'More than two million boxes a day," answered 
the matchmaker. **The average daily consumption of 
matches is said to be five a day for each person. In 
1880 there were thirty-seven match factories in this 
country, employing 2,200 people, and producing 
2,200,000 gross of matches per annum. Ten years 
later, the number of persons employed in this industry 
had diminished to 1,700, with an annual increased pro- 
duction of 8,500,000 gross. In 1900 there were 2,047 
persons employed in twenty-two factories. There are 
now some twenty-three factories engaged in the manu- 

383 



WONDER STORIES 



facture of this product. The annual value of the 
matches made in America amounts to nearly $6,000,000. 
Until a comparatively few years ago, matches had to 
be transported by wagon, being considered too unsafe 
for transportation by the railways. 

^'The manufacture of matches in America on a 
large scale is only possible because of the improved 
machinery. In Europe most of the match factories 
use machinery that is at least thirty years out of date. 
The largest American match concern has established 
a factory at Liverpool, where, with its modern 
methods, it is enabled to turn out a product superior 
to the English match at a lower price. In some parts 
of Europe the match-boxes are still made by hand in 
the old-fashioned way. 

*^Did you ever visit a match factory?" asked the 
Story-teller. 

^^It is very interesting to watch modern machinery 
turn out these matches at almost miraculous speed. 
First the splints are prepared from blocks of pine 
from which the knots and cross-graining have been 
removed. These blocks come to the factory in two- 
inch planks, thoroughly dried. They are sawed to 
lengths of 1% "to 21^ inches; then they are passed 
through a machine which cuts them into thin strips; 
each strip contains splints for forty-four matches. As 
each set of splints is cut from the block it is placed 
in cast-iron plates, which are formed into an endless 
chain. The cutting-machine makes from 175 to 250 
revolutions a minute. At each revolution forty-four 
matches are cut and set in the plates. This means that 
an average of nearly 9,000 matches can be cut per 
minute from a single machine. 

**The splints have now been cut and set in the 
plates. The next step is to carry them over a drying 

384 



STORY OF FIRE 



block where they are heated. They are now ready 
to have the composition applied to their heads. This 
composition consists of a mixture of paraffin and other 
ingredients. As the splints pass along the endless 
chain, the head of the match is coated at the composi- 
tion rollers. The matches are cooled and dried by 
blasts of cold air. Then they are automatically packed 
in boxes, which are fed into a machine automatically 
and passed to a rotating table, where girls paste on 
the box-covers. 

' ' That is the way that we get the fire that we carry 
in our pockets!'' exclaimed the matchmaker. **It is 
the result of American genius. Fire, which once 
ranked as divine, and was the chief care of the savage 
matron, is now carried in its passive state in every- 
body's pocket. The American match has penetrated 
to the remotest corner of the globe. It is to be found 
wherever civilized man has set his foot, and even in 
places where he has never been seen." 

The old match-maker struck another match into 
flame. 

^'Take this fire away from us to-day and we can- 
not exist," he said. **Fire is the substance of our 
whole civilization. It is our best friend when we hold 
it under control. It is our worst enemy when it con- 
quers us. It is no wonder that the ancient peoples of 
the earth worshiped fire as a god." 



385 



THE STORY OF THE CARPENTER AND 
HOW HE BUILDS OUR HOMES 



(6 



COME from the oldest and possibly the most im- 
portant trade in the world," said the young man 
as he greeted the Story-tellers. *^I am a car- 
penter — a trade which has numbered among its work- 
ers the Man of Nazareth. 

* ' Since the days when men lived in earthen caves, ' ' 
exclaimed the youth, ^'the carpenter has been the 
maker of the home and the builder of our towns and 
cities. Wherever we turn our eyes we see the handi- 
craft of the man with the hammer. He has been the 
creator of our civilization. His well-directed blows 
have erected the structures that surround us. 

*^If you were to ask me," said he, ^Svhat one little 
object had taken the largest part in our national great- 
ness, I would say — the nail. When we invented the 
nail, our real progress began. Yet it is considered 
to-day so insignificant even by the carpenter, that 
when it goes bounding away from a misdirected blow, 
instead of going after it he immediately replaces it 
from among those in his pocket. This is because the 
nail is now so commonplace that the time required to 
search for it is more valuable than the nail. But there 
was a period in this country, and in fact throughout 
the world, when a nail was a very valuable com- 
modity — too valuable to be lost. 

**In the old days nails were rare objects, made by 
hand. They were of precious metal, because iron was 
comparatively scarce; so nails were hard to get and 

386 



STORY OF OUR HOUSES 



therefore highly valued. But people had to have homes 
in which to live — so they were forced to go ahead and 
build without nails. The wit of men devised a plan 
by which planks and boards were held in place with 
wooden plugs. It was necessary to bore a hole in the 
timber at the point where it was to be fastened, and 
then to drive a wooden plug, fashioned by hand, into 
this hole. Sometimes plugs were driven into the 
seams between timbers ; they were then held together 
by ^jamming' them. Not only houses, but ships and 
wharves, fences and bridges, were held together in 
this way. These plugs did their work well. They held 
the wood firmly and lasted for great periods, but the 
labor needed to make even a small wooden chest was 
too great to be profitable. 

**In colonial America lumber was more abundant 
than in any other part of the then inhabited globe. 
There, too, more building was going on than in any 
other country. In Europe the people had time to 
quarry stone and bake bricks for their homes, but in 
America the houses of timber could be built more 
quickly. The demand for nails became greater here 
than in the older parts of the world. Therefore, at 
night, when the other work was done, the colonial 
families would gather around the forges and all would 
help to make nails. Even small children took part in 
the production. Old scraps of iron were used, and 
by heating and hammering were turned into crude 
nails. 

*^In one of these families, '^ said the carpenter, 
' ' there was a young man who grew disgusted with this 
nightly, irksome task. So he set himself to thinking 
about a way in which it could be lightened. He had 
an idea — and went to work on it. He devised a method 
for cutting nails instead of hammering them out. This 
was the origin of what is now known as the *cut nail,' 

387 



WONDER STORIES 



a name which distinguishes it from wrought and 
moulded nails. This young man was Jeremiah Wil- 
kinson; he lived in Cumberland, Ehode Island. It 
was in 1777 that he hit upon the innovation, and be- 
came the inventor of the modern nail. Wilkinson lived 
to be ninety years old, dying in 1832, but before his 
death he witnessed a revolution more important than 
war — ^he saw the manufacturing of nails cease to be a 
household craft and become a great national indus- 
try. 

**The nail became the hero of its times. Even 
statesmen believed that progress was made of nails. In 
the village of Bridgewater, Massachusetts, there lived 
a man named Ezekiel Eeed. He created quite a reputa- 
tion in 1786 by announcing that he had invented a 
machine that would not only cut the nail but also put 
a head on it. But the machine was imperfect, and it 
was not until 1790 that Jacob Perkins, of Newbury- 
port, Massachusetts, developed some improvements 
on Eeed's principle, and became the great inventor of 
his times. No less than 120 patents for nail-making 
machines were taken out in the United States between 
1790 and 1825. A machine was invented by 1810 that 
could produce 100 nails a minute, or 6,000 an hour — 
a wonderful improvement when it is considered that 
it had been requiring a whole working-day to produce 
2,000 nails. It seemed as if every man with inventive 
skill now began to improve the nail. Scores of devices 
were introduced until, in 1850, William Hersel patented 
a machine for the manufacturing of wire nails. But 
all these machines and those used to-day are based on 
the principle first adopted by Ezekiel Eeed. 

*^I am an ardent disciple of the nail," continued 
the carpenter. **Cut nails have been miracle-workers. 
The rapid opening up of America, and of all new con- 
tinents, has been made possible because men could 

388 



STORY OF OUR HOUSES 



build quickly and securely by the aid of nails. Even 
in this twentieth century of steel and concrete struc- 
tures, that little piece of iron, the cut nail, is respon- 
sible for our modern wonders. Scaffolding must be 
built ; it must be secure, and must be raised quickly — 
the little cut nail has enabled man to do this. We are 
still paying tribute to that little piece of iron. Not only 
in our buildings, but in our ships and our furniture it 
plays an important part. The commerce of the world 
is carried in crates and packing boxes — cut nails hold 
them together. The house that we live in; the trans- 
portation of our food ; the performing of our engineer- 
ing miracles ; the intercourse between oceans, and be- 
tween continents — all depend, to a large extent, upon 
the nail. 

*' To-day the nail industry is one of the most im- 
portant in the United States. No less than 726,000 
tons of iron and steel are required for nails in a single 
year. They are manufactured in more than 80 plants, 
and nearly four thousand persons are engaged at the 
work. The value of the nails turned out in a recent 
year amounted to over $30,000,000. They were pro- 
duced by machines at the rate of 1,000 a minute. One 
thousand nails a minute! How is it done? One ma- 
chine makes the entire nail. It takes in strands of 
wire or sheets of metal at one end and pours out the 
completed product at the other end. After the metal 
is fed into the machine it is chopped into the desired 
lengths. These are called nail blanks. As they fall 
from the chopping device they are caught at one end 
and are struck by a moving die. The head is formed 
at one blow. They now pass into another device 
which roughens the shank just below the head. This 
roughening gives them a greater holding power — 
twenty per cent more than they would have were they 
left smooth. Swiftly, they pass under a mechanism 

389 



WONDER STORIES 



that slices them in one stroke to point them, and then 
they are spewed forth into kegs that catch them as 
they pour from the machines like veritable Niagaras. 
These kegs are each made to hold just one hundred 
pounds of finished nails, so that the total number may 
be quickly known by merely counting the kegs. 

**With the exception of England, where iron 
abounds and where American patented machines are 
in use, the entire world uses American-made nails,'' 
asserted the Story-teller. **More than 18,000,000 kegs 
are made in a year — nails enough to reach around the 
earth 200 times. In Australia the settler is using them 
to build his farmhouses. In China the coolie is busily 
engaged in driving them into his new occidental home. 
In Europe they are holding together fences on farms 
and scaffoldings on world famous buildings under- 
going repairs. In Alaska they are being used to form 
the structures of entirely new cities." 

The carpenter held a nail before his auditors. 

*'I repeat," he said, **that this is the little wonder 
worker that holds our civilization together. Like 
soldiers in a vast army, these little bits of wire that we 
call nails stand guard at every fortification. Upon 
them fall the burdens of the modern world." 



390 



THE STORY OF LIGHT AND HOW IT 
HAS CONQUERED NIGHT 



THE library was in darkness on the night that this 
story was told. Suddenly it burst into light. 
**I am one of the wizards,'* said a man who 
was seen to be standing in the center of the room, * Hhat 
turn night into day. Darkness is driven from the face 
of the earth wherever or whenever we decide to do it. 
By the mere touch of the finger on a button whole cities 
are aroused from their slumbers into a blaze of light, 
and lie before us like fairylands." 

**The story of light," exclaimed the electrician, **is 
a tale of modern magic! The Creator made the sun 
to shine by day, and the moon and stars to shine by 
night. And man discovered that what work he had 
to do must be done by day. But the Creator had made 
man tremendously ambitious. Moreover, He endowed 
him with the power to work out the solution of his 
own happiness. Man soon came to feel that night was 
somewhat of a burden to him. When the sun had set 
there was nothing for him to do but sit in darkness 
or go to sleep. So he decided to see what he could 
do to make light for himself ; and his success has been 
astounding. 

**The first method he used was that of burning 
pieces of wood. By the time of the Pharaohs, bundles 
of wood were being dipped in grease to make flaming 
torches. Then, a thousand years later, some shrewd 
person invented candles. Wax candles began to ap- 
pear at great state functions and at religious ceremo- 

26 ^^1 



WONDER STORIES 



nials. The candle consisted of a reed that had been 
coated with fat. This was held in an iron clamp, so 
that the burning end could be kept upright. When it 
was desired to obtain more light from the one candle, 
both ends were lighted. From this came the phrase, 
* burning the candle at both ends.' The light from 
these candles was very poor. It was blown out by 
the slightest draft, but the people who used them no 
doubt considered them marvels. After a while, men 
learned to refine tallow, and this solved the candle 
problem. 

^^But the ingenuity of man never ceases," ex- 
plained the Story-teller. ^^ About this time some one 
created a crude device for burning a wick soaked with 
grease or oil. It was called a lamp. The first lamp 
was a hollowed receptacle. It was made of stone, a 
gourd, a shell, or a piece of bone. Oil or refined 
grease was poured into the hollow. A wick of moss 
or other vegetable matter was used to absorb the 
grease. The tip of the wick was then lighted and gave 
a glowing flame. The Greeks and Eomans substituted 
metal receptacles. With their artistic capabilities they 
were able to make lamps of very beautiful designs. It 
was an American, Benjamin Franklin, who first pro- 
posed the hempen wick, but lamps were still without 
chimneys. 

^'How the chimney came to be put on the lamp is 
an interesting story. It was an accident. One day a 
Frenchman was holding a bottle near a lamp. The 
bottom of the bottle was suddenly cracked off by the 
heat, and his fingers were burned. Quickly setting the 
bottomless bottle down, he placed it accidentally over 
the burning wick. He was amazed as he saw the 
effect. The light immediately grew brighter and 
burned more steadily. From that day onward we have 
had lamp chimneys. The chimney ]amp was supposed 

392 



STORY OF LIGHT 



to be a wonderful invention, and no doubt it was ; but 
to-day we regard it as a most primitive thing. It 
required much cleaning and care; the wick had to be 
trimmed regularly, and the chimney was broken with 
discouraging frequency. With the discovery of oil 
and kerosene came the dangers of exploding and 
catching fire. Thousands of lives were sacrificed 
through accidents with chimney lamps, and nothing 
was ever discovered which would make them safer." 

*^ American inventive genius found the solution," 
exclaimed the electrician. ^^It was in 1865 that Pro- 
fessor T. S. C. Lowe, who had already won fame for 
his aeronautical exploits in the Civil War, discovered 
how to get water gas from coal. That same year he 
erected the first central gas plant in the world. The 
gas, after it was generated, was sent into an immense 
tank, and from this it was distributed by iron piping 
to homes and factories. Gas lighting as an institution 
owes its greatest development to Americans. 

**It was thought at that time that this was the last 
great improvement that could possibly be made in 
connection with artificial lighting. It was only nec- 
essary to turn a stop-cock and apply a match — and 
there was illumination. The cost was not great and 
the convenience was wonderful. Gas lighting was at 
first a luxury to be found only in mansions and 
palaces. Soon it was put in even modest homes, and 
the streets began to be lighted by it. 

^^But the last word in lighting had not yet been 
said. The time was to come when gas light was to 
be as old-fashioned as candle light. It was in 1879 
that the American wizard of wizards, Thomas A. 
Edison, revealed the secret. He took a glass bulb 
from which the air had been drawn. Then he placed 
a filament of carbon in it so arranged that an electric 
current could be passed through it. Behold ! the fila- 

393 



WONDER STORIES 



ment burst into light and glowed brightly ! This was 
the first electric light for practical home purposes. It 
was made to give a light equal to about eight candles. 
The old-fashioned gas jet gave about that amount of 
light, so it now had a rival. 

''The world figuratively sat up and rubbed its 
eyes ! For the first time in the history of civilization, 
man was in possession of a practical light that was not 
produced by combustion of anything. It burned, or 
rather glowed, without the slightest flicker; there was 
no smoke ; it gave off very little heat, and it could not 
be blown out. All that was needed to carry it into 
any house was a double line of wire that could be very 
easily strung from the central power plant. Now, for 
the first time, rural districts as well as cities could be 
brought into the new 'darkless age.' Gas lighting had 
never been practical except in cities, and the farmer 
still was forced to use oil lamps — until the coming of 
the electric light. 

*'The genius of man is never satisfied — he keeps 
improving. An Englishman gave us the arc light for 
street purposes. Then some one harnessed water 
power to run dynamos. If our coal supply, or our 
gas and oil supplies, should be cut off to-day we still 
could get as much light as we need. As long as 
Niagara flows, and similar waterfalls, we need never 
fear about our supply of light. Finally a thoughtful 
mechanic began to cover our electric wires and lay 
them underground where they are out of danger from 
wind and weather. 

"So it is that to-day darkness does not put an end 
to work. The time for man's activity has been 
doubled. Between the night and the day there is little 
difference in the brightness of our surroundings. 
Former civilizations may have excelled in some re- 
spects, but ours has seen the end of superstition and 

394 



STORY OF LIGHT 



has shorn night of its illusions and terrors. Modern 
lighting is nothing less than magical. Gigantic chan- 
deliers light onr halls with even greater brilliance than 
conies with the daylight. Our streets are very nearly 
as bright at midnight as they are at noon. On our 
coasts stand lighthouses with beacons that may be seen 
twenty miles away. In our forts are searchlights 
which may pick up and illuminate ships ten miles out 
at sea. Where has the world seen such magic before ? 

^'A man in a power-house turns a switch and a 
home many miles away is lighted. The turn of an- 
other switch — and the streets of a whole city with 
millions of inhabitants burst into radiance. The turn 
of still another switch sends a flood of light under the 
earth into the tunnels of the city where trains roar 
under the same power of electricity. Again, the turn 
of a switch lights up hundreds of miles of country 
roads. As late as the eighteenth century any man 
who had declared that such things might be, might 
have been prosecuted as a madman or as a practitioner 
of the ^ black art.' 

^^It was not long ago when, in the largest cities, 
men kept in their homes at night for fear of thieves 
and marauders who prowled in the dark. Those who 
desired to read or study could do so only under the 
greatest difficulties. Lincoln, as a boy, studied by the 
light of a wood fire ; yet many of his contemporaries 
are still living. In two generations the electric light 
has completely revolutionized the life of man.'* 



395 



THE STORY OF HEAT AND HOW WE 
LEARNED TO CREATE IT 



THE crisp bracing air of the late autumn flowed 
into the open door. An elderly man entered. 
* * This seems like winter, ' ' he remarked. * ' Is 
it cold in here T ' 

**Well,'' exclaimed a woman near the radiator, ^4f 
it is, we can turn on more heat. ' ' 

**That reminds me of my story," ejaculated the 
elderly man. *'Did it ever occur to you how wonder- 
ful it is to be able to sit here even on the coldest day 
in winter, with the thermometer far below zero, and 
turn a wheel that pours heat into the room until it 
is like a tropical garden? Flowers bloom in our 
homes while the snowdrifts pile up outside the win- 
dow. Winter is transformed into summer in an in- 
stant. In a single step we pass figuratively from the 
arctic to the equator. 

**This is not the tale of some ancient sorceress,'* 
added the Story-teller; **it is the plain, true story of 
heat. 

*^We like to talk," he continued, ^' about the ^good 
old times,' to which sentimental folk hark back with 
regret. They may have been full of romantic charm, 
but they were ^good cold times.' After men had given 
up dwelling in caverns to live in shelter of their own 
making, they ran against the problem of keeping their 
homes warm — a problem which continued to worry 
them down to our own times. 

*^The first artificial heating of houses was very 

396 



STORY OF HEAT 



crude. In the first place, the hovels of the poor were 
not heated at all. Only the rich conld know that 
luxury. Brushwood fires were lighted in the middle 
of the rooms. The smoke, for which no outlet was 
provided, was such a nuisance that the members of 
the household did without fire as much as possible. 
Previous to the ninth century, it was no uncommon 
thing for water, and even wine, to freeze on the tables 
of kings. 

^ ' Then there came an unknown genius who planned 
and built a fireplace. This permitted the burning of 
large logs; but even these conditions were far from 
ideal, because the designer was not genius enough to 
contrive a chimney. The smoke nuisance still existed, 
and it continued to be dangerous to change one 's cloth- 
ing during the winter months. Even the Romans, who 
heated their rooms with portable stoves, could not 
solve the problem of confined smoke, and the develop- 
ment of house-heating was lost to western Europe 
along with the other arts after the decline of the 
empire. 

*^ Chimneys were unknown before the twelfth cen- 
tury. Up to that time, the only provision for letting 
out smoke was a number of holes cut into the wall 
behind the fireplace. No draft was afforded, and the 
fire burned poorly, giving off little heat. All sorts of 
devices were used to get heat without smoke. Pieces 
of metal and large stones were allowed to remain in 
the big fire until they were very hot, after which they 
were carried to other parts of the house. The house- 
wife of those days often boiled water by dropping hot 
stones into receptacles. When the fire had gone out, 
the hot ashes were scooped into earthen pots, which 
were carried to the bedrooms in order to make un- 
dressing a safe act. The custom of putting a warm 
iron among the bedclothes originated in those times. 

397 



WONDER STORIES 



But by the fifteenth century brick chimneys were being 
built. About the log fire the family gathered at night 
to watch the dancing flames and hear the sputtering 
of the burning woods. 

** After the introduction of chimneys, the next im- 
provement was the grate, which held the fuel above 
the floor and permitted the air to circulate underneath 
the fire. Coal and coke were gradually introduced as 
fuel, but they were very costly. 

**It was an American," proclaimed the Story-teller, 
**and no less a man than Benjamin Franklin, who in- 
vented the next innovation concerned with heating. 
In 1744 he devised a cast-iron open heater which pro- 
jected from the fireplace and radiated from the back 
as well as the sides and front. This idea was taken 
up and developed into the heating-stove. A cast-iron 
box-stove was invented in 1752; then came the sheet- 
iron cylindrical stove. The first base-burner used in 
this country did service in New England about 1830. 
Meanwhile another method for heating houses was 
gradually being adopted. It was the hot-air furnace. 
This, too, was invented by Franklin in 1744. Nowa- 
days the use of the furnace is universal. Three kinds 
of furnaces are used, and of these the hot-air furnace 
is the most obsolete. As you all know, a furnace is 
nothing more than a large stove, placed, generally, in 
the cellar. In the case of the hot-air furnace it is so 
arranged that air may pass through a compartment, 
heated by the fire, from which it is carried to all the 
rooms by large tin pipes. Fresh air is constantly 
drawn into the heated compartment by a separate pipe 
entering from outdoors. 

*'Then came the steam-heating furnace. It is a 
rearrangement of the other. Steam is generated in 
a compartment and circulates throughout the house in 
pipes of iron. The hotter steam seeks to rise and in 

398 



STORY OF HEAT 



that way keeps up a circulation. In the rooms the 
steam passes through coils of pipe, called radiators. 

*^The hot-water system which followed these is 
really the older. Seneca tells us that the Roman baths 
were heated by brass pipes containing water that had 
passed over fire, but, like other Roman devices, it fell 
into disuse until it was entirely unknown to those liv- 
ing in the Middle Ages. The system was rediscovered, 
however, by M. Bounemain of Paris, in 1777, when he 
began to use it to heat the hothouses of the Jardin des 
Plantes. William Cook introduced it into England in 
the middle of the eighteenth century, but it was not 
until a hundred years later that it was used in America. 

**The first Ajnerican building to be heated by hojt- 
water plants was the Eastern Hotel in Boston. The 
first Ajnerican factory that tried it was the Burlington 
Woolen Mill in Vermont. Fundamentally, the hot- 
water system is like the other two. A compartment 
called a ^jacket' surrounds the fire, and in it water is 
heated. The hot water seeks to rise and flows upward 
through iron pipes into radiators all over the house. 
By the time it reaches the highest point, it is cooler, 
therefore heavier, and seeks to descend, so it runs 
down a pipe which conducts it back to the jacket. Thus 
the same water is heated over and over again, circu- 
lating continually in the same manner as the blood in 
the bodies of animals. 

**But a still greater system of heating was to be 
introduced, ' ' continued the Story-teller. **It is elec- 
tricity. It was found that the passage of electricity 
through a conductor generates heat. This discovery 
was quickly taken advantage of, with the result that 
electric heaters came into existence. 

*'Then some wise man struck an ingenious idea. 
He conceived the plan of heating whole groups of 
buildings or an entire city by one fire at a central plant. 

399 



WONDER STORIES 



Compare this to the ^good old daysM A turn of the 
wrist and a radiator warms np a community. The 
heat is uniform throughout the room ; there is no dirt ; 
the labor is carried on all in one spot. Heat can be 
had at will or may be easily turned off; any given 
temperature may be maintained. What a difference 
from the time when every room required a fire and 
only that part near the fire was really warm! 

*^The modern large office building with its half- 
hundred floors and hundreds of offices would be an 
impossibility, had not Franklin and his imitators de- 
veloped the furnace. The business of the world would 
have been hampered immeasurably. The large mod- 
ern schools and the great comfortable hospitals never 
would have been possible. The winter months would 
still cause a slowing down of all human activities, just 
as they used to do, and the progress of the world could 
not have been nearly so rapid. Factories would have 
been able to produce only a part of what they now 
turn out, and travel would have to cease during half 
the year. 

**We are not accustomed to give much thought to 
such things as heat," said the speaker, in conclusion, 
*^but when we do we are convinced that the modern 
methods of heating are magical. It is all very well 
for our fathers to speak of the 'good old times,' but 
let them first see to it that the valve of the radiator is 
opened. Queen Elizabeth trod on Ealeigh's coat in 
crossing a puddle, and reigned over the British Em- 
pire, but she never stepped into a really comfortable 
room in winter." 



400 



THE STORY OF WATER AND HOW WE 
CAME TO CONQUER IT 



THE stout man with a ruddy complexion and a 
twinkle of humor in his eyes lifted a glass from 
the table and touched it to his lips, 

** Partners/' he said, ^^I drink to your health in the 
finest, purest nectar ever tasted by man — a glass of 
good cold water. There is nothing sweeter; there is 
nothing healthier. It brings us long life, contentment, 
and prosperity. Let me sing the praises of water." 

He drank the sparkling contents of the glass and 
then filled it again from the pitcher. 

** Without this water," he said, holding the glass 
before the Story-tellers, **we could not have our 
modern cities. The growth of a community cannot 
exceed the facility with which it can supply itself with 
fresh water. Beyond this limitation a town cannot 
exist. The history of civilization is a story of man's 
efforts to extend this limit ; it is the story of water. 

**One of the first things that man learned about 
himself was that he could not go long without water. 
He found that thirst must be quenched in the same 
way that food was required to keep him from starva- 
tion. So he bent his knees at the springs and brooks 
and drank. Way back in the days before Christ, he 
began to build walls of stone around the natural 
springs to protect them. The women came to these 
springs and filling their urns with the pure water car- 
ried it on their heads to their homes. On the oldest 
ceramics we find pictures, often crude, of this method 

401 



WONDER STORIES 



of carrying water. The neckyoke, with two suspended 
receptacles, still used in rural Europe, was also used 
in Biblical times. Beasts saddled with leather water- 
bottles were then a common sight. These methods 
were also used in early America, until some one de- 
vised the scheme of roughly hewn wooden buckets. 

*^When there came times of drought, the suffering 
was intense. One day some wise man decided to dig 
deep into the earth in search of the hidden streams. 
He did so, and, as a reward, he found the lost springs 
of refreshing water. Since that discovery the ^welP 
has been the fountain of good health and long life. 

**Then came a remarkable invention," exclaimed 
the Story-teller. *^It was the pump. The principle 
of the pump had been known for centuries, but until 
the use of iron became extensive, no pump had been 
made to draw water. Pumps were at first bought by 
communities; and the 'village pump' became an insti- 
tution throughout the land. 

*^The problem of water was not yet solved. It was 
still very difficult to get fresh water into the homes. 
As before, it had to be carried. The *rain barrel' was 
commonly used to catch the precious water that ran 
off the roofs. Finally, in 1652, some progressive citi- 
zen in Boston suggested that they build a lake or 
reservoir and then run the water from the neighboring 
springs into it. The first reservoir was twelve feet 
square and located in the center of the village. This 
scheme turned the minds of men thinking about means 
of extending this wonderful system. So it was that 
one Christopher Christiansen, of Bethlehem, Pennsyl- 
vania, began to construct, in 1754, what was to be the 
first public water works in America. Water was con- 
veyed by pipes from springs to a cistern 350 feet away. 
A wooden pump forced the water from this to a 
wooden tank in the town square. This plant was en- 

402 



STORY OF WATER 



larged seven years later and created quite a sensation 
when it was announced that it was worked by three 
iron force-pumps, which sent the water through hol- 
lowed hemlock logs. From the tank the water was 
distributed by means of pipes consisting of bored pine 
logs. The news was sent through the country — at last 
water could be brought to the home without the labor 
of carrying it by hand. 

**In the year that George Washington died there 
were sixteen public water plants in the United States," 
said the speaker. **The development of the system 
grew quickly. Streams were dammed to form reser- 
voirs to take the place of springs. Instead of the 
wooden pipes, metal ones were used. When Phila- 
delphia fitted her water system with cast iron piping, 
in 1804, she attained the distinction of being the first 
city in the world with such equipment. London 
adopted it in 1820. 

* * The idea grew rapidly. Larger and larger reser- 
voirs were built. The areas which they drained be- 
came greater. The size of the conveying pipes was 
increased, till finally the building of water works be- 
came one of the most important branches of civil 
engineering. In contrast to the little twelve-foot res- 
ervoir for early Boston, there is to-day the Wachusett 
Eeservoir, containing sixty-three billion gallons of 
water, now supplying that city. The city of San Fran- 
cisco gets its water from the San Mateo Eeservoir, 
which holds thirty-one million gallons. New York de- 
pended for years upon the Croton Reservoir, with a 
capacity of thirty-two billion gallons, until it was 
decided to construct near Kingston, at a distance of 
over seventy-five miles from New York City, the 
Ashokan Dam to hold back one hundred and twenty 
billion gallons of water. Five hundred million gallons 
will daily flow through a gigantic aqueduct that is 

403 



WONDER STORIES 



built cross-country, over mountains and under the 
Hudson Eiver, to bring water into the homes of the 
metropolis of the Western Continent. This stu- 
pendous system will cost $200,000,000. The water will 
have pressure enough behind it to flow up to the 
twenty-fourth floors of the skyscrapers. 

**But these gigantic water plants have not yet 
driven the good old wells out of our villages. They 
are still used; but they, too, have undergone great 
changes. Nowadays wells are bored by drills which 
make holes that are measured by inches instead of by 
feet. These borings go down very far. The deepest 
well in the world used for obtaining water is located 
at Putnam Heights, Windham County, Connecticut. It 
goes down 3,848 feet, and gives a supply of two gallons 
of water each minute, shooting the water four feet 
above the level of the ground. These deep wells are 
known as Artesian wells, a name derived from Artois, 
where they were first used. Brooklyn obtains 78,- 
000,000 gallons of water each day through Artesian 
wells and many other towns fare almost as well. 

'*The danger of water famine is now past in most 
cities. The city of Buffalo supplies each inhabitant 
an average of 230 gallons of water a day. In Pitts- 
burgh the average is 250 gallons, and in New York it 
is 129. This is due to the many different uses to which 
water is now put. Since the early seventies, when 
porcelain bath-tubs first came into use, millions of 
gallons are daily used for bathing. Other millions 
are used by factories; horse-troughs take their quota; 
the public fountains flow perpetually ; but the greatest 
amount of all is used by the hydrants of fire depart- 
ments to prevent our homes and cities from being en- 
tirely destroyed. 

^^The value of water was strikingly illustrated at 
the time of the destruction of San Francisco, in 1906. 

404 



STORY OF WATER 



The city might well have withstood the slight damage 
done by the earthquake, had it not disconnected the 
water-mains. Without water the San Franciscans 
were helpless. The houses caught fire, and nothing 
could be done to check the spread of the devouring 
flames. Without water the inhabitants dared not stay 
in the stricken city for fear that fever would come and 
carry them off. 

** Human life depends upon water, food, and air. 
Air we get without trouble; food we get with a little 
more exertion, but water we get only through elabo- 
rate systems. Yet we must have them — for no city 
would be safe without water more than six days.'' 

^^ There is one more interesting point about this 
story of water, ' ' exclaimed the engineer. ^ ^ It is this : 
great fortunes are being made in selling water. Big 
corporations have gone into the business, and millions 
of dollars are invested in water companies. So great 
has become the industry of supplying water that many 
cities have started their own reservoirs, and one of 
the most frequently discussed phases of American 
politics is the municipal ownership of water plants — a 
problem that sooner or later must be settled in every 
town in the United States." 



405 



THE STORY OF THE SCHOOL-MISTRESS 
AND THE ARMY OF CHILDREN 



A BRIGHT little woman, with black hair and snap- 
ping black eyes, sat on the window seat. 

** Would you like to hear my story?" she 
asked. **It is about a great army, the greatest army 
in the world. Its soldiers are all young boys and 
girls — ^twenty million of them. Every morning they 
march in columns to their battle grounds ; every night 
they return after the day's conquest." 

*^The noble army about which I am to tell you," 
said the bright little woman, raising her voice, * * is the 
mighty army of little soldiers in our public schools. 
Their foe is ignorance; their weapon is the * school- 
book' ; and every hour of the day they win some notable 
victory. 

**It is an army greater in numbers than all the 
soldiers in all the standing armies of all the nations 
of the earth. Every schoolhouse is a fortress. We 
have spent more than $1,100,000,000 on public school- 
houses in the United States. Every teacher is a gen- 
eral; and we have over 524,000 of them in command 
every day in our common schools. Every pupil is a 
soldier of far greater value to the community than 
the soldier in actual warfare; and we have nearly 
20,000,000 children in our public schools to-day. This 
does not even include our public high schools. We 
have 10,240 of them, with a million more pupils. 
Neither does it include our 600 colleges, with nearly 
225,000 young men and over 100,000 young women in 
their ranks. 

406 



STORY OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL 

*^Have you any idea what we spend every year to 
educate our children? 

*^ Nearly $500,000,000 to give our boys and girls a 
good start in life — and it is the best investment that 
any nation ever made. 

**The public school, as it exists to-day, on a basis 
of pure democracy, is an American achievement. 
Athens and Eome had extensive school systems. In 
the early stages of the Christian Church, free schools 
were set up by bishops and missionaries. Later, there 
were free schools of some kind in most countries, 
though the subjects taught were very few in number. 
There was one defect in these schools, however; they 
were looked upon as charitable institutions, and often 
it was considered degrading to study in them. Only 
the poor attended ; the well-to-do children were taught 
privately. It -was America '^ privilege to do away with 
this state of affairs and make public education truly 
democratic. 

** There is some doubt as to where the first school 
in the United States was founded. Boston, Worcester, 
Hartford, Brooklyn, and Virginia all claim the honor. 
As early as 1633, the school of the Eeformed Dutch 
Church was founded in New York. When Boston was 
five years old, in 1635, the first school in Massachusetts 
was established, and by some this is called the first 
American school. 

*^The American colonists knew from the beginning 
the importance of public education. Massachusetts 
passed a law in 1647, only 27 years after the settle- 
ment of the colony, requiring every town of 50 house- 
holders to maintain a master to teach reading and 
writing, and every town of 100 householders to main- 
tain a grammar school. Connecticut passed a law in 
1650 that was much the same. Throughout New Eng- 
land public education was the pride of the inhabitants. 
27 407 



WONDER STORffiS 



Only eighteen years after the landing of the Pilgrims, 
a college liberally endowed with books and money, 
opened its doors to receive the sons of the colonists, 
and that was the beginning of Harvard University. - 

'^The history of the American public school is a 
wonderful story," continued the young teacher. ^'Two 
hundred and fifty years ago, the children of all ages 
were crowded together in a crude cabin to have * read- 
ing, writing, and arithmetic' switched into them. To- 
day many of our schools are in magnificent buildings. 
In the larger cities, these buildings contain scores of 
rooms ; they are warmed and lighted by the most ex- 
pensive processes. There are many teachers, all of 
whom are trained for their work. The best books are 
provided free; there are large gymnasiums, where 
the children are drilled; there are manual training 
shops. Pupils are trained to use their hands, as well 
as their minds; to draw, to carve wood, and to do 
simple work. In New York City there are over 800,000 
pupils enrolled in the public schools; there are about 
19,000 teachers and supervisors. This great city uses 
about one-fifth of its total expenditure to support edu- 
cation, and spends on the average of $44.90 yearly 
for each pupil. When we consider that one-fifth of 
the entire population of the United States attends the 
public school system, we can feel sure that there will 
ever be in America a true patriotism, the patriotism 
which comes from intelligent gratitude. 

*^The meaning of the words, pnhlic school^ is not 
always understood. Indeed, it is difficult to grasp the 
magnitude of our present system. The elementary 
school course is eight years generally. It is compul- 
sory. Parents are forbidden in some states to remove 
their children from school before the age of fourteen. 
There are high schools, where the work of the ele- 
mentary schools is continued for four years. But not 

408 



STORY OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL 

even here do the opportunities for free education end. 
Shortly after the beginning of the Civil War, the Land 
Grant Act was passed. This measure gave each state 
30,000 acres of land for every representative it had in 
Congress, for the purpose of endowing a State uni- 
versity. Almost every state west of New York and 
Pennsylvania has taken advantage of this splendid 
opportunity and has established state universities, 
where tuition costs practically nothing. In these uni- 
versities there are industrial colleges. 

^^The purpose of the American school is to prepare 
its boys and girls for a life of intelligent industry. 
Education in America does not mean a preparation for 
an existence of pleasant idleness ; it is the foundation 
for productive work and constant usefulness. For years 
there have been high schools that teach bookkeeping, 
typewriting, and stenography, carpentry and metal 
working; girls are instructed in cooking and sewing. 
There are night schools and vocational schools. Some 
schools and colleges send their pupils to get experience 
in the shop and the factory. The usefulness and dignity 
of labor is the keystone of the public school system 
in the United States. 

'*So, when we are talking about the wonderful 
things that surround us," exclaimed the ardent young 
teacher, **do not forget the foundation of them all — 
the public school which has molded such careers as 
those of Jackson, Lincoln, Garfield, and tens of thou- 
sands of others whose daily labors are contributing 
to the greatness of the republic. Who knows but what 
there is somewhere in our public schools to-day another 
'man of the hour' who will rise up and 'save the na- 
tion' in the time of need!" 



409 



THE STORY OF THE LIBRARIAN AND 
THE WORLD OF BOOKS 



THE eyes of the Story-tellers were directed sud- 
denly toward a dignified young woman, wearing 
eye-glasses from which hung a long silken cord. 
Her words were spoken mth the pure tones of culture. 

^^My story/' she said, ^^is the story of books. I 
am the bookworm — the modern public librarian.'' 

**I presume," she added, ^'that you expected to see 
a bent old gentleman wearing a faded green coat or 
linen duster, old-fashioned rimmed spectacles poised 
on the end of a long nose." 

The Story-tellers smiled at the caricature. 

*^That day has long gone by," she added. ^^The 
modern public library is to-day a great progressive 
institution in which the wisdom of the ages is yours for 
the asking. Think of being able to walk out of one of 
our twentieth century libraries with Aristotle under 
one arm, Cicero under the other, and Plato stowed 
safely away in your pocket! 

^^ American ingenuity has done many wonderful 
things," continued the librarian, ^^but none is more 
vital to our civilization than the great houses of books 
that have been reared in nearly every city and town in 
the United States. Even England confesses that the 
modern library movement is essentially American. 

** Perhaps," she said, thoughtfully, ^^we should give 
some credit to those early beginnings buried under the 
sands of the Assyrian desert — those inscribed bricks 
found in rows and tiers of shelves in ancient ruins. 
And we should not overlook that period in the Dark 

410 



STORY OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY 

Ages of Europe when the flame of learning was kept 
alive in the monasteries and universities, where thou- 
sands and thousands of volumes were preserved 
through the patient care of the copyist. 

^'In America,'^ she continued, *Hhe first libraries 
were established in the colonial parishes. The Bishop 
of London, in 1696, appointed the Eev. Thomas Bray 
founder and secretary of the Society for the Propaga- 
tion of the Gospel, and sent to Maryland thirty parish 
libraries, embracing 2,545 books. The bishop further 
announced his intention of extending his scheme for 
the supply of all the English colonies in America. 

^^But the progressive free public library belongs to 
the latter half of the nineteenth century. Before that 
time the idea of a collection of books for the use of an 
entire community from the proceeds of a tax can 
scarcely be said to have existed. The oldest existing 
library of this kind is at Petersboro, New Hampshire. 

^^The first ^town' library was opened in Connecti- 
cut in 1803. Subscription libraries were * public' in 
the sense that they were open to all on the same con- 
dition without discrimination. The Philadelphia Li- 
brary Company, founded by Benjamin Franklin, was 
of this cooperative type. The Mercantile Library 
arose about 1820, in Boston, New York, and St. Louis, 
originating in the idea to furnish good reading for the 
younger employees in business houses. Active pro- 
gress along the modem library idea dates from the 
formation of the American Library Association in 
1876. And the chief distinctively modern features 
of American public libraries, besides public support, 
are freedom of access to shelves, work with chil- 
dren, cooperation with schools, branch libraries, and 
traveling libraries.'' 

^'How many libraries are there in the United States 
to-day?" asked a man near the reading-table. 

411 



WONDER STORIES 



^' There are nearly sixteen thousand,'' answered the 
librarian. ''On their shelves are nearly seventy-five 
million books. These books represent a cost exceeding 
$100,000,000, while the buildings in which they are 
preserved cost many millions more. 

''Suppose we stroll through one of the vast li- 
braries where the modern or American idea has ex- 
pressed itself without limitations! A large library 
contains two distinct parts ; a stackroom, in which the 
books are stored, and reading rooms, where they are 
read. Larger libraries have separate collections on 
economics, technology, architecture, or other subjects, 
in charge of expert custodians, while the collection of 
public documents is stored separately. Let us go into 
the great reading-rooms, where we have access to the 
volumes which are not to be taken home, and into the 
vast reference rooms, with their shelves filled with dic- 
tionaries, encyclopedias, periodicals. 

"Think of all the schemes of classification. There 
are fiction, juvenile books, English and American 
literature, biography, travel, sciences; there are the 
useful arts, the fine and recreative arts, political and 
social science, philosophy and religion ; there are works 
on languages and in foreign languages; books about 
similar things grouped together; books belonging in 
some way to the same part of the world grouped to- 
gether; books grouped chronologically and alpha- 
betically, or grouped by languages. 

"The library touches the lives of thousands of im- 
migrants. No attempt was made ten years ago to 
reach them. Now you will hear, in the course of your 
stroll through the big modern library, foreigners ask- 
ing for books in Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Dano-Nor- 
wegian, Eussian-Polish, Bohemian, Hungarian, Mod- 
ern Greek, Lithuanian, Roumanian, German, and 
French. 

412 



STORY OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY 

*^The public library is one of the greatest of mod- 
ern educators. Its vast collections contain books for 
the use of the mechanic, for the handicraft man, for 
the plumber, the tinsmith, the carpenter. Its wonder- 
ful shelves are filled with trade and technical books. 
Its rooms contain public records and patents. Here 
the engineer comes in to find a remedy for a cylinder ; 
or the boy who wants information on building an 
aeroplane ; or the man who wishes to know if peanuts 
can be grown in a Northern State; or some one who 
wishes to know of the industrial resources of the West 
or the South.'' 

The librarian hesitated a moment. 

^^I should like to tell you,'' she said, ^'the story of 
the great benefactions that have been left to American 
libraries; how Andrew Carnegie has started nearly 
2,000 of these institutions; and how, through other 
great endowments and public taxation, they have be- 
come a vital part of American life. 

**But," she added, raising her hand in emphasis, 
**I must close my story here with this one fact, which 
I ask you to remember : The American library to-day 
is practically a woman's institution; its largest num- 
ber of books are taken out by women; it finds the 
greater number of its librarians and assistants among 
women; and its public service and influence is more 
largely felt by the women and children in the Amer- 
ican homes. 

*^But not to slight the men," she added, **let me 
say in conclusion that, back of this wonderful system 
of distributing books free to every remote corner of 
the nation, is the administrative genius of men." 



413 



THE STORY OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL 
TEACHER AND HER GOOD WORK 



THE eyes of the Story-tellers were turned admir- 
ingly toward a young girl, handsome as a paint- 
ing and as sweet and fragrant in her personality 
as a garden of roses. Slender and graceful, the charm 
of her maidenhood was enhanced by a simple frock of 
light blue. 

**I am only one of nearly two million,'' she said 
modestly, *'two million Sunday school teachers." 

She had hardly spoken the words when she, too, 
received the ovation that the genial Story-tellers ex- 
tended to womanhood. 

^^A Sunday school teacher seems such an ordinary 
creature in such a gathering of genius as this,'' she 
said, somewhat confused. *^But, then, I am proud 
of the distinction." 

The threads of brown hair fell over her face, and 
she pushed them back with her soft, white hand. 

**The idea of the Sunday school," she said, speak- 
ing slowly, '^ began back in the days of the ancients, 
but it is only in modern times that it has been or- 
ganized on the vast scale of our modern Sunday 
schools. We read in the books of the Pentateuch how 
the priests gathered the children about them to tell 
them of the great Creator and his wonderful world. 
The Mohammedans followed the example of the Jews, 
and many travelers have described the spectacle of the 
children seated on the floor of a mosque, listening to 
the recital of the Koran by the imaum, or minister. 

414 



STORY OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL 

From the earliest times, the Christian church has in- 
structed its little ones in the paths of virtue. By the 
beginning of the fourth century, bible schools were 
established in Egypt and many parts of the east, and 
it was largely through their means that St. Gregory 
the Illuminator converted Armenia to Christianity. 

^^In the days shortly after the discovery of Amer- 
ica, the Archbishop of Milan founded Sunday schools 
in his European diocese, and organized the teachers, 
both men and women, into a * ' Confraternity of Chris- 
tian Doctrine, ' ^ which, at his death, in 1584, numbered 
4,000 schools, and is still in existence. Even to-day 
the Milan cathedral is used for this purpose, and chil- 
dren, with their books and slates, receive instruction 
in one part, while working-men are gathered in an- 
other part of the historic edifice. 

**But the real founder of the modern Sunday 
school, as we know it in English-speaking countries, 
was Robert Raikes, of Gloucester, England. He was 
born in 1735; his father was a local newspaper pro- 
prietor, in easy circumstances. He lived in a time of 
great religious and philanthropic activity. The teach- 
ings of John Wesley were then gaining many con- 
verts. The courageous John Howard was in the 
midst of his activities in the prisons; and William 
Wilberforce was already in Parliament. 

'^What was it that led Robert Raikes to establish 
the Sunday school? It is as interesting as a romance. 
On his visits to the jail, he pondered over the wretched 
plight of the prisoners whom he saw. Whenever he 
walked on the streets, his pity went out to the throngs 
of neglected children, mostly workers in a pin factory, 
who were to fill the jails of the future. So it was that 
he resolved to do what he could to avert these hiiman 
tragedies. 

**It was on a Sunday in July, 1780. Raikes col- 

415 



WONDER STORIES 



lected twelve poor children in a small room and placed 
them in charge of a lady of his acquaintance, who told 
them of the love of God. The children listened with 
awe to the wonderful story. Then they brought their 
little friends to hear the glad tidings. They came in 
such numbers that it was necessary to engage teachers 
at the rate of a shilling a day. Seldom has a move- 
ment, started in so humble and unostentatious a man- 
ner, reached fruition so quickly. Sunday schools 
sprang up everywhere. In 1785 a Sunday school 
society was formed, and by 1796 there were a thousand 
Sunday schools in England. 

^^ Needless to say, the movement was not without 
its opponents. There were found learned statesmen, 
who saw in it something seditious and revolutionary; 
and godly churchmen, who denounced it as a profana- 
tion of the Lord's Day. The Anglican episcopate de- 
clared solemnly against the impious innovation. In 
Scotland it met with no favor; and, when the move- 
ment crossed the ocean, New England frowned on it. 
One worthy Connecticut minister went so far as to 
shake his cane at a young lady parishioner, whom he 
accused of ^ doing the Devil's work' by organizing a 
Sunday school. But all this opposition did not stem 
the great movement. 

^^The introduction of the Sunday school into the 
United States may be said to date from 1791, when a 
* Society for the Institution and Support of First Day 
or Sunday Schools in the City of Philadelphia' was 
organized, with Bishop William White as president 
and Matthew Carey as secretary. But it was soon felt 
that an organization wider in its scope was required, 
and, in 1817, the Sunday and Adult School Union was 
formed in Philadelphia. This developed, in 1824, into 
the American Sunday School Union, which is national 
and interdenominational in its scope. 

416 



STORY OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL 

*^Its wonderful progress is shown by the fact that, 
in less than one hundred years, there are in the United 
States 160,225 Protestant Sunday schools, with 
1,570,188 teachers and 13,907,845 scholars. In Great 
Britain are 49,210 schools, with 712,610 teachers and 
7,425,857 scholars. The figures for the whole world 
show that to-day the Sunday schools number 296,129 ; 
teachers, 2,633,120 ; scholars, 26,653,715. To such pro- 
portions has the ragamuffin school of twelve pupils, 
begun by Eobert Eaikes, already grown. 

**The first national convention of Sunday schools 
was held in New York, in 1832. The first World's 
Sunday School Convention was held in London, in 
1889, and since then these international conventions 
have been held every three years in various parts of 
the world. The last (1913) was held at Zurich, Switzer- 
land, and it is intended to hold the next in Tokio — a 
sign of the ecumenical activities of the movement. 

**What is the meaning, we may well ask, of this 
world-wide movement? To what end are devoted the 
activities of this army of earnest, high-minded men 
and women who give their services in our Sunday 
schools? What are the results in the case of the mil- 
lions of children the world over, who, week by week 
for many years, assemble in these schools? The wealth 
of noble influence or moral worth can hardly be ex- 
aggerated. The Sunday school is the guardian of 
childhood throughout the world; it has the oppor- 
tunity, such as the day school cannot enjoy, of mold- 
ing their character to a pattern of virtue with the aid 
of the powerful sanctions of religion. It takes these 
young minds, when they are not distracted by their 
ordinary studies and occupations, and guides them to 
noble ideals of life and a high conception of duty. We 
naturally expect that all this should have an elevating 
influence on our people, that this training of our future 

417 



WONDER STORIES 



citizens should have an important bearing on the 
moral progress of the nation. Can any one doubt 
that such is the wonderful achievement? 

'■ ' The modern Sunday school, ' ' continued the young 
teacher, ^^has been keeping pace with the times. In 
the large cities, both indoor and outdoor recreations 
are provided for use on week days by the Sunday 
school pupils. Many church buildings have gym- 
nasiums, reading-rooms, and game-rooms. All kinds 
of outdoor sports are organized. The Sunday School 
Association of Chicago has the largest amateur base- 
ball organization in the world, consisting of eleven 
leagues of six teams each, enrolling about a thousand 
young men, who must be certified Sunday school at- 
tendants. There are similar baseball leagues in many 
other cities. 

**0f such," declared the vivacious young lady, ^4s 
the rich fruit growing on the tree that has sprung from 
the tiny seed sown by Eobert Eaikes. It seems a long 
step from the humble room in Gloucester to all the 
comfort and magnificence of the palatial edifice at 
Washington. Yet the same spirit is there — ^the spirit 
of Christian service. When we reflect on what the 
Sunday school has done, and is doing, for the better- 
ment of mankind, we do not hesitate to accord it an 
almost incalculable share in our progress in the past, 
and in our hopes for the future." 



418 



THE STORY OF THE YOUNG MEN OF 
THE NATION AND A BENEFACTOR 



A YOUNG man, full of the vigor of life, stood be- 
fore the Story-tellers. His face was radiant 
with enthusiasm, and his voice strong. 

**I come to you as a messenger from the youth of 
the nation," he said. *'They stand shoulder to shoul- 
der, 600,000 strong, in the story that I am to relate. 
It began in a bedroom in London, in 1841, but it soon 
crossed the ocean and spread over the American con- 
tinent, until to-dav it is one of the wonder-stories of 
modern life. 

*^ Shortly before the death of Queen Victoria, an 
old man — 73 years of age — ^was summoned into the 
presence of Her Majesty. As he knelt before the 
throne, the good Queen bestowed upon him the order 
of knighthood for his ^distinguished services in behalf 
of the young manhood of the world.' The venerable 
knight is the man who, at twenty years of age, per- 
formed the deed that culminates in this story. 

"George Williams, for that was his name, was a 
farmer's boy. At about twenty years of age he de- 
cided to go out into the world and seek his fortune. 
So he left his farm in Somerset and came up to Lon- 
don to enter the house of George Hitcncock and Com- 
pany, at 72 St. Paul's Churchyard. This sudden 
change was a revelation to him. He found himself in 
a strange environment, in a group of men like him- 
self, struggling and anxious to get on in the world, 
but unlike himself in one great particular. Without 

419 



WONDER STORIES 



exception they were profligate and profane. They had 
little opportunity for self-improvement, since they 
lodged in small and ill-ventilated bedrooms. There 
were eighty of these yonng fellows, and every one de- 
clared that it was impossible for a clerk to be a Chris- 
tian. This young Somerset farmer set about to dis- 
prove that assertion, and after he had been there three 
years it was agreed that it was impossible for a clerk 
to remain in that store and not be a Christian. 

*^The young men met evenings in the small bed- 
room occupied by their friend and discussed the prob- 
lems of the day. They read books and talked about 
life and its great opportunities. Three years later — 
in 1844 — twelve of these young men formed them- 
selves into a club of self-help, and that is the beginning 
of the great organization known to-day as the Young 
Men's Christian Association. Shortly afterward 
similar societies were formed in other London dry- 
goods houses. A letter from London, published in a 
Boston newspaper on December 29, 1851, led to the 
organization of an Association in Boston — the first in 
the United States. Within the next two years Associa- 
tions were formed in twenty American cities, among 
them New York, Chicago, Washington, Buffalo, New 
Orleans, and San Francisco. These associations met 
in their First International Convention in Buffalo in 
1854. 

** During the bloody years of the American Civil 
War, these organizations formed what was called the 
United States Christian Commission to go upon the 
battlefield and administer to both the physical and 
spiritual needs of the soldiers. More than five thou- 
sand Christian helpers went into the camps and hos- 
pitals and distributed over ^ve million dollars in money 
and supplies. 

**The first World's Congress of the Young Men's 

420 



STORY OF THE Y. M. G. A. 



Christian Associations was held in Paris in 1855. There 
they adopted the historic Paris Basis, which is the 
bond of unity between the various bodies throughout 
the world. It is to-day a great world movement for 
the betterment and culture of young men. So great 
has it become that it requires over 3,250 officers in 
North America alone to direct its affairs." 

^*How many Associations are there in the United 
States?" asked one of the listeners. 

** There are 2,118 Associations in the United States 
and Canada to-day," replied the Story-teller. ^^Six 
hundred and thirty-six are in the cities, 669 are in 
universities and colleges, 235 are Eailroad Associa- 
tions, 132 are Colored Men's Associations, 351 are 
town or rural, 36 are Army or Navy Associations, and 
61 are Indian Associations. These Associations have 
an aggregate number of 536,037 men and boys. Of 
these young men 72,938 serve on committees in their 
respective Associations." 

**IIow much money is invested I" 

** Nearly $70,000,000 is invested in buildings and 
other permanent equipment. 

**It is doing a wonderful work among the railroad 
men in America," continued the speaker. * 'Railroad 
Associations have been established at 235 divisional 
and terminal points. The man coming in from a long 
run finds restrooms, clean and inexpensive, restaurants 
operated without thought of profit, social rooms at- 
tractively equipped, modern sanitary baths, libraries, 
and reading-rooms. Nearly $4,200,000 is now invested 
in Railroad Association buildings. The total attend- 
ance at 3,703 shop meetings during the year 1912 ex- 
ceeded 250,000 railroad men. Bible classes show an 
enrollment of 8,030 students, and 241,647 technical and 
general books were distributed that year through the 
Association libraries to railroad men alone. 

421 



WONDER STORIES 



''The Y. M. C. A.,'' continued the speaker, '4s a 
high-grade, low-cost, young men's club. It is Chris- 
tian, but not sectarian. It is an athletic organization 
that does not use men to promote athletics, but uses 
athletics to develop men. It is a night school for young 
men who work by day. It is a home for young men 
away from home. Its fellowships, club-rooms, gym- 
nasiums, baths, classes, and all other practical ad- 
vantages are open to all young men of all faiths or 
of no faith. It is controlled by representatives of 
churches. It is not an experiment, but is the survivor 
of many experiments. While other organizations — 
social, athletic, educational, ethical, and even reli- 
gious — have failed, this has succeeded, and is now in 
successful operation in over eight thousand places in 
North America and throughout the world." 

"What are you doing for the immigrant!'' asked 
one who is interested in all the peoples of the earth. 

"We are working for him day and night," an- 
swered the speaker. "The immigration work was 
begun in 1907. To-day there are four hundred Asso- 
ciations doing some form of service for the immi- 
grants. Last year 15,000 foreigners were in classes in 
English, 50,000 attended lectures and practical talks 
on citizenship. Secretaries at ports of embarkation 
in Europe rendered personal service to the departing 
emigrants. Practically every port on the Atlantic 
Coast has its port secretary meeting immigrants on 
arrival. Hundreds and thousands of industrial work- 
ers are in small industrial communities, in village and 
isolated camps." 

"The Y. M. C. A. has encircled the world," con- 
tinued the Story-teller. "It is on the seas and in the 
mines. It goes to war. It stands behind the guns on 
the battleships. During the Spanish-American War 
in 1898 it went to the firing-line. Its Army and Navy 

422 



STORY OF THE Y. M. C. A. 



Department to-day has material equipment, including 
sites, buildings, and endowments, valued at $2,000,000. 
It is organized in twenty-six army posts and has ten 
navy branches, touching the lives of men, not only in 
the United States, but in Alaska, on the Canal Zone, 
and in the Philippine Islands. Eighty-eight secretaries 
are giving their time to the promotion of the work 
for sailors and soldiers. 

*^The magnitude of the work accomplished by the 
Y. M. C. A. almost staggers the imagination. In a 
single year 5,486,895 men attended its religious meet- 
ings, 1,191,386 went to its shop meetings, 987,286 sat in 
its bible classes. Nearly 1,000,000 used the reading- 
rooms of the Associations. Seven hundred thousand 
good books were read; 1,900 lectures were given; 
$528,000 were paid in tuition fees in the commercial, 
industrial, trade, academic, and language classes; 
2,560 teachers gave instruction to 61,800 employed 
boys and men. Over 100,000 were aided in the exten- 
sion work. Sixteen thousand boys were members of 
evening classes alone. The annual expenses for this 
work amounted to $8,000,000.'' 

^^I should like to tell you about the almost mirac- 
ulous way in which money comes to this great work," 
concluded the enthusiastic young worker; ^*how the 
business men of the nation have extended their sup- 
port ; how the richest men and women of the land have 
bestowed fortunes upon it ; and how much larger gifts 
are needed to extend the magnificent work. But the 
story is too long to tell here. I can only say that the 
Young Men's Christian Association is one of the 
greatest influences on American citizenship, and that 
in time of need the nation will always find it ready 
and willing to lend its helping hand." 



28 



423 



THE STORY OF THE YOUNG WOMEX 
OF THE NATION— FUTURE MOTHERS 



A YOUNG- woman sprang quickly to her feet. 
Her dark brown eyes snapped like jewels. There 
was a ruddy glow on her cheeks. 

^'This is the psychological moment for my story,'' 
she said. ' ^ I speak for the yonng women of America. ' ' 

The Story-tellers broke into applause. 

** Three cheers for all the women in America — 
young or old ! ' ' shouted a young man ; and the library 
echoed with a hundred voices. 

^'My story,'' the young woman began, ^* started in 
the terrible Crimean War. The nurses were return- 
ing from the battlefields with the moans of the wounded 
and dying still ringing in their memories. Upon their 
arrival in London from the East some thoughtful 
woman with a motherly heart opened a home for them. 
This was in 1854. In the following year, Lady Arthur 
Kinnaird formed an organization to take control of 
this home and to develop a great idea. It was decided 
to throw open its doors to worthy women who were 
training for all branches of usefulness. A circulating 
library was opened, and a register kept of persons 
seeking employment. The whole city of London was 
studied and districted. Various plans of usefulness 
were developed, and the great work began which has 
culminated in the modern movements for the protec- 
tion of our working women. 

*^The American people took a deep interest in this 
magnificent undertaking," continued the young 

424 



STORY OF THE Y. W. C. A. 



woman. ' ' It was in the city of New York in 1858 that 
the Ladies' Christian Union held its first meeting for 
self-supporting young women. One day a clergyman 
came to these benevolent ladies. 

^^ ^I have a young woman/ he said, *who is unable 
to find a safe, comfortable boarding-place at a price 
she can afford to pay. She has just come to New 
York to earn her own living and you should help her. ' 

^* ^Here is your work,' suggested the clergyman. 
* Open a boarding home for such young women ! ' 

*^The home was opened in I860,'' continued the 
Story-teller. *^ About this same time a similar idea 
had occurred to the women of Boston, and on the 6th 
of March, in 1866, they organized what is known to-day 
as the Young Women's Christian Association, and 
two years later opened their first home with lodgings 
for eighty young women." 

Another round of applause passed through the 
room. 

^^Many homes for self-supporting women were 
started throughout both America and England," con- 
tinued the speaker. ^*A directory by which young 
women could be directed to employment was a feature 
of the earliest associations. Educational classes were 
opened ; and, later, physical training classes. In 1885, 
the Traveler's Aid work was started. The American 
seaports and large inland cities were kept in close 
touch with a central union as well as with the various 
American points from which young women came. In- 
dustrial Associations were formed in cotton mill vil- 
lages. It was in 1907 that the Young Women's Chris- 
tian Association of the United States of America was 
formed. The distinction of bringing about the na- 
tional organization belongs to Miss Grace H. Dodge. 

^'So great had become this wonderful system that 
in 1912 there were 908 Associations in North America, 

425 



WONDER STORIES 



with 280,597 members. Over forty-nine thousand 
women are enrolled in the Bible classes of the Associa- 
tions. In the educational classes 46,426 young women 
are enrolled. More than forty-three thousand are in 
the physical training department. In the offices of the 
Associations, 1,563 young women are employed, and 
there are nearly one hundred field secretaries and 
young women at the headquarters. The budget for 
1912 amounted to $4,196,233. 

** Nearly thirty thousand young women lunch daily 
in the luncheon rooms provided by the Association. 
The Association gave 55,331 young women employ- 
ment through their bureaus in 1912. Sixty-nine sum- 
mer homes were conducted. The Travelers' Aid was 
in personal touch with 211,461 young women and girls 
during the year. The Association owns 172 buildings 
and has real property valued at $14,315,934." 

These remarkable facts deeply interested the lis- 
teners. 

^^ Shall I stop here?" asked the speaker. *'I do not 
wish to tire you." 

^^Go on! go on!" called out nearly a hundred 
voices. 

*^The heart of this great achievement of woman 
for woman centers in New York City," resumed the 
Story-teller. ^^It is here that you will find the Na- 
tional Board and the National Training School occupy- 
ing one of the most commodious and perfectly con- 
structed buildings in the world. There you will learn 
that, while the headquarter 's budget is $400,000, the 
budget of the nation is nearer ten millions. There, if 
the charts are spread out before you, and you survey 
the work in America, you will see thousands of girls 
pouring into classes all day and evening, thousands in 
domestic science classes and physical training classes, 

426 



STORY OF THE Y. W. C. A. 



eighty thousand in millinery classes and learning 
typewriting and stenography and other honest work 
that will teach them to be mode efficient. 

*^The wonderful system called the 'Department 
of Method,' is a challenge to the world of woman's 
efficiency. Under its name gather a staff of women 
who are expert students of women's life as it ex- 
presses itself in industrial, rural, student, social, im- 
migrant, physical, educational, and religious terms. 
Working chiefly through the field secretaries, these 
specialists stand ready to consult, advise, and 
diagnose. A statesmanlike policy has been proved; 
the country has come to have confidence in the plan 
which has done more for the American girl and for 
the American woman than any other, at any time, in 
the history of the world. 

**If you ever have an opportunity to visit the Na- 
tional Headquarters in New York, do not fail to do so. 
There you will find a chart telling you that 6,000,000 
of the 45,000,000 women and girls in America are 
wage-earning and most of them at a non-living wage. 

''Here you will find a great and quiet force gath- 
ered for attack on the social evil by the only com- 
plete way; here is conducted a quiet campaign in the 
interests of good, old-fashioned thrift; here is a cam- 
paign against the extravagances of the times. 

"One last word to carry in your memory!'' ex- 
claimed the young woman, impressively. "G-ive the 
American girl a wholesome environment and a fair 
opportunity to earn her way in the world, and you 
need not fear for the future of the nation." 



427 



THE STORY OF THE WORKING WOMEN 
AND THEIR MODEST EARNINGS 



A MIDDLE-AGED woman of matronly appear- 
ance spoke. There was a businesslike manner 
about her that commanded attention. 

**I, too, speak for woman and her work,'' she be- 
gan. * ^ Not the woman in the office, or the mill, or the 
store; not the woman in industry; but the woman at 
home who with her hands creates objects of beauty 
and utility, or who with her patience contributes her 
share to the world's needs." 

The curiosity of the listeners seemed to be aroused. 

**0n one of the most crowded thoroughfares in 
the world," she said, ** there is a building where the 
passerby occasionally pauses in wonderment. It stands 
on the corner of Madison Avenue and Forty-second 
Street, in the city of New York. Over its entrance 
appear these words: *The Woman's Exchange.' The 
name tells its own story — a story of the ingenuity, 
perseverance, and ability of the American woman. It 
is a plan whereby a great system of clearing-houses 
has been established for the handiwork of women. 

** Thirty-five years ago, a small shop was opened 
in New York City with thirty articles, the handiwork 
of women, by a woman who saw the necessity of pro- 
viding a market for gentlewomen thrown upon their 
own resources. This was the first Woman's Exchange 
in the world — a clearing-house for the handiwork of 
women. Fundamentally an American institution for 

428 



S TORY OF THE WOMEN'S EXCHANGES 

self-supporting women, this was the parent of many 
other exchanges throughout the country. Its methods 
and systems were soon adopted in Canada, France, 
Germany, and England. 

* * This one exchange now registers over fifteen thou- 
sand articles yearly, and pays its consignors annually 
between ninety-five and one hundred thousand dollars. 
This exchange alone has disbursed to women 
$1,688,384. Since its organization, exchanges in hun- 
dreds of American cities have been formed, until the 
entire country has fostered and encouraged this unique 
American movement to provide markets at home for 
the thousands and thousands of women unequipped 
to enter the industrial trades or professions, but who 
must utilize their talents and energies in providing a 
livelihood for themselves and their families. 

**The second exchange to be established in America 
was the Madison Avenue Exchange, twenty-eight 
years ago. It is now the largest in the United States 
and owns its own building. This one exchange has 
disbursed to women over six hundred thousand dol- 
lars. The total amount disbursed yearly by all the 
Women's Exchanges in America is estimated at sev- 
eral million dollars. 

^'The American exchanges are now the one great 
clearing-house for all the activities of the American 
women in a century when economic independence is 
being preached from the housetops. No articles are 
ever received from women who are not dependent 
upon their own resources. Fees varying in amounts 
from $1.50 to $3.00 are charged consignors, and the 
exchange receives ten per cent of all sales. It is under 
the management of women; women form its board of 
managers, fill all executive departments, and only 
women comprise the consignors. 

429 



WONDER STORIES 



''Some idea of the wide sphere of woman's work 
and the varied activities for the woman bread-winner 
that is fostered by the thousands of exchanges through- 
out America may be had by glancing over the bulletin, 
which is posted at practically all of these wonderful 
women's markets in the country: 'Order taken for 
babies' and children's clothing and equipment for the 
nursery; hand embroidery, lacework, fancy and use- 
ful articles, plain serving, delicacies for the sick, hos- 
pitals, institutions and convalescent homes supplied 
at short notice; preserved and candied fruits always 
on hand. ' Here is where the exchange touches elbows 
with the country woman in disposing of her fruits, 
her home-made wines, her fresh eggs, her home-made 
products. 

"We have not only widows with families to sup- 
port," said the woman, who is one of the managers in 
this great clearing-house for woman's work, "but 
mothers who are working to give their children an edu- 
cation, or daughters who have accepted the burden of 
helpless parents. The self-respecting woman who sees 
herself left behind with unrealized plans and ideals 
comes to us. And we have among our consignors 
those who come to us for positions of trust; women 
educated in household arts and science, skilled man- 
agers ; women of efficiency in various directions, who, 
in working out their own individual lives, have become 
stranded. This age sends forth its thousands to seek 
work. I am proud to be a part of the Women's Ex- 
changes which provide safe and wholesome occupa- 
tions for these thousands, these millions of women 
bread-winners." 



430 



THE STORY OF THE HOSPITAL NURSE 
AND THE BATTLE FOR HEALTH 



A BIG, black automobile sped through, the streets 
and stopped at the entrance to the library. A 
woman in a plain black garb alighted and hur- 
ried into the building. 

As she entered, the Story-tellers greeted her with 
cordial handclasps. 

**I had much difficulty in getting here,'' she said. 
'*The hospital wards are filled with patients, and I 
must be on duty through the night. So I must tell you 
my story quickly.'' 

**It is a story of patience, self-sacrifice, and hu- 
manity," she began. *'The modem hospital is the 
miracle of miracles. Here we literally hold back the 
hand of death and rob the grave. Yes, even more — • 
there are frequent instances where we almost believe 
that we bring the dead back to life." 

**When and how did the hospital begin?" 

**I will tell you," she answered gently. **It was 
in the time of the old Crusaders that the Christian hos- 
pital began. They seem to have been the first to act as 
nurses in the hospitals in the Holy Land. There may 
or may not have been hospitals in pre-Christian times. 
We know that the Egyptians studied medicine, but 
their sick were brought to the temples to be healed 
by the priests. There are evidences that dispensaries 
for ill soldiers and slaves were opened in Rome. 
Chinese explorers describe hospitals for men and ani- 
mals. Hospitals existed in Mexico before the Con- 

431 



WONDER STORIES 



quest. There was an Arabian hospital with a staff of 
forty-two doctors. The oldest hospital in the world 
still existing is the famous Hotel Dieu, on the banks 
of the Seine. It was supposedly founded by a bishop 
of Paris, 660 to 800, A. D. 

* 'Hospitals in America, you ask! The first was 
erected by Cortez in the City of Mexico, in 1542, and 
it is still in existence. The first hospital in United 
States territory was erected on Manhattan Island, in 
1663, to care for ill soldiers and negroes of the East 
India Company. Early in the eighteenth century, pest- 
houses for contagious diseases were established in va- 
rious towns on the Atlantic Coast. A permanent hos- 
pital for these ailments was built in Boston in 1717. 
The first privately endowed hospital in the United 
States was the Charity, in New Orleans, founded in 
1720, by a sailor named Louis. It receives 8,000 pa- 
tients annually. 

''The spread of hospitals,'' continued the nurse, 
*'is an American marvel. The last census shows the 
number of hospitals in the United States to be 1,493. 
The number of patients admitted that year was 
1,064,512. There were 21,844 nurses and 2,863 resi- 
dent doctors, with 15,914 visiting physicians. America 
has a brilliant record. In hospital construction and 
in advanced methods of hospital equipment this coun- 
try has made wonderful strides. The evolution of the 
American hospital is one of the wonders of America. 

"Let us take a glimpse at one of these great city 
institutions," said the nurse. "It will appeal to you 
if you are a lover of hygiene. Visit one of these per- 
fectly planned and magnificently equipped hospitals; 
observe the wards and separate rooms for patients; 
here is the administration room, the reception room, 
the adjacent waiting room; there is the doctor's office, 
the head nurse's office, the drug room. You have not 

432 



STORY OF THE HOSPITAL 



begun to see the entire floor space, for here is a gen- 
eral dining-room, a nurse's dining-room, the kitchen, 
the pantries, the storerooms. And have you passed by 
the operating room, with its marvelous equipment? 
Look at the walls on either side, and the ceilings. They 
are of glass, double, with spaces between the walls 
for heating these rooms. There is the sterilizing room, 
the septic and clean rooms, and the instrument ster- 
ilizers which can be reached without leaving the op- 
erating room. And here is the anaesthetic room. 

' ' Did you ever think of the part that economy must 
play in every part of the hospital system? Think of 
the time consumed in conveying food to patients from 
the kitchens. In the Steinhof hospital in Vienna, 3,000 
patients are scattered over 350 acres, and food has to 
be carried to them in electric cars. In American hos- 
pitals there are the great kitchens and the smaller 
diet kitchens, where, both in the preparation of the 
food and in conveying it to the patients, little time is 
consumed. And economy enters now in the smallest 
details of construction. Architects no longer leave 
any projections in hospital rooms; no mouldings to 
catch dust. There must be the one panel door, and, 
by the way, American manufacturers make the most 
sanitary doors that are to be found in the world. Equal 
attention is given to hygienic and noiseless floors.'' 

The nurse glanced hurriedly at her watch. 

*^I have two minutes more," she said, *^and then 
I must hurry to my duty. Sunshine and air is the 
keynote in the modern hospital. The modern idea 
that patients must be kept in the open air has revolu- 
tionized hospital construction. Architects now design 
airy balconies and even roof wards. In the modern 
American hospital electric lights are used to signal to 
nurses and internes. The signals are set from the 
main office, and, by different colors and positions of 

433 



WONDER STORIES 



electric bulbs, the different doctors are signaled to 
answer by telephone. There are wonderful hospitals 
for children, where the floors are of a light gray vitre- 
ous tile, and there is no chance for a particle of dust 
to stay one single moment in one single corner. Here 
is a complete milk laboratory; there are dainty diet 
kitchens, a general laboratory fitted with sinks and 
slabs ; and here is a pathological room for research. 

* ^America has hospitals for children, for consump- 
tives, for cripples, for emigrants, for incurables, for 
the insane, for cancer, besides the military and naval 
and marine hospitals. Were it not for the hospitals, 
cities could not exist. People could not be housed — 
hundreds and hundreds in one block — if it were not for 
the hospitals which act as safeguards in contagious 
diseases. Our hospital systems make it possible for 
communities to live without being swept away by 
epidemics. Hospitals are equipped with chutes for 
soiled clothing, with an incinerator where all garbage 
is burned, with an appliance where mattresses are 
sterilized by steam. The modern hospital has had a 
wonderful effect on American civilization. It has 
given stability to communities in periods of contagious 
disease. It is the refuge of humanity both in war and 
peace. Never, at any time in the history of the world, 
has so much attention been given to hospital construc- 
tion, and America stands in the forefront." 

**My friends," said the nurse, in closing her story, 
* ^ I do not wish any of you ill luck, but, if you are ever 
taken seriouslv sick, the best luck that I can wish vou 
is that some good friend will hurry you off to the 
nearest hospital." 



434 



THE STORY OF MODERN SANITATION 
AND ITS GREAT BLESSINGS 



'']y /T Y story is not the most interesting in the 
1 T X world," said the man near the door, ^^but it 
is one of the most important — ^your lives de- 
pend on it!" 

The speaker was abont forty years of age and had 
the appearance of a professional man. 

**I am a sanitary engineer," he said. **It is my 
business to fight disease, epidemics, plagues — to drive 
them out of their dark hiding-places and destroy them 
before they destroy us. It is a long, hard battle, but 
we are winning it step by step." 

*^Can you remember," he asked, **the days when 
smallpox ravaged our cities and towns? Then there 
were great scourges of fevers that fell on our bones 
like wolves and devoured us. Our communities were 
always in danger. We never knew when the next pest 
was to attack us." 

*^ Those days," he said emphatically, **have gone 
forever. The enemies have been driven from our 
doors. They now appear only occasionally and sel- 
dom as a devouring epidemic. The individual cases 
are isolated. And the force back of this notable vic- 
tory is the great army of engineers, and the boards of 
health that to-day stand guard over our cities and 
towns. 

**This story of sanitation, as T have warned you, 
is not wholly pleasant, but it is chivalrous. It deals 
with the environment of civilized man, the air he 

435 



WONDER STORIES 



■ breathes, the water he drinks, the ventilation of his 
dwelling, the disposal of waste material. Uncivilized 
man, living in natural surroundings, knows little or 
^nothing of this science. It is a product of city life, 
and nowhere is it in greater requirement than in the 
crowded cities of America. 

*^It is not exactly a new idea, for even hack in 
antiquity there were regulations as to sewage disposal 
and quarantine. But the science, as it is known to 
us, is considerably less than a hundred years old. 

**We realize to-day that we must keep posted on 
this subject of public hygiene. Nowadays the Board 
of Health is an important feature of every city. Yet 
the first State Board of Health was not established 
until the year 1855. Louisiana has the honor of hav- 
ing led the way, but this institution was then more a 
project for the enforcement of quarantine. Massa- 
chusetts followed as late as the year 1869, and Cali- 
fornia in 1870. 

*^ Strange to believe, the great State of New York 
did not establish a State Board of Health until 1880. 
It then began to realize that a gigantic metropolis 
could not long exist without defending itself against 
disease. It then began to fortify itself as it would 
against an invading army. To-day it is bulwarked by 
an immense organization under command of a com- 
missioner, secretary, chief clerk, medical expert, path- 
ologist and bacteriologist, director of the Bureau of 
Chemistry, director of the Cancer Laboratory, regis- 
trar of vital statistics, consulting ophthalmologist and 
consulting engineer. ^ 

*'The first secret of public health," exclaimed the 
sanitary engineer, ^4s pure water. Without that no 
city can exist. Impure water will wipe a community 
o:ff the face of the earth as surely, if not as quickly, 
as an earthquake. To-day impure water is trans- 

436 



STORY OF SANITATION 



formed into crystal pure water by the wonderful pro- 
cess known as slow sand filtration. 

*^The first United States city to build a sand fil- 
tration plant was Poughkeepsie, in 1870. Another 
was built at Hudson, New York, soon afterward, and 
no further progress was made until 1889, when the 
city of Albany adopted this method. One was built 
for the national capital at Washington, with a filter- 
ing capacity of 125,000,000 gallons of water daily, in 
1905, and Philadelphia soon afterward commenced the 
construction of one having a daily filtration capacity 
of 300,000,000 gallons. 

'*The second of the great secrets of public health,'' 
remarked the engineer, *4s the proper disposal of 
sewage. This has not yet become a fine art. Sewers 
were known in ancient Eome. Paris had a sewerage 
system as early as the year 1536, but even in 1893 very 
few houses had sewerage connections. In the year 
1847 the houses of London were forced by act of Par- 
liament to have connection with drains. 

** Boston was provided with drains in the year 
1701. Since 1848 the houses have been universally 
connected. Every American city of importance has 
since erected its own great sewage systems. 

**In the small American towns sewers are still far 
from universal. The disposal of refuse is not such a 
serious problem in country places. It is only when a 
population becomes concentrated that the subject be- 
comes vital. The small villages use the rivers, which 
generally purify themselves by the action of sunlight 
and the filtration through sand and gravel before the! 
water reaches the next settlement. American cities 
situated on tidal waters remove their waste matter to 
sea in barges and cast it overboard at a safe distance 
from land. Experiments show that the action of the 
ocean effectively destroys the elements of putrefac- 

437 



WONDER STORIES 



tion after a very short space of time. Before tlie con- 
solidation of New York City it was estimated that 
valuable fertilizer to the amount of $650,000 worth 
was lost annually to the Borough of Manhattan alone 
by being dumped into the sea." 

**The latest solution for this great problem," con- 
tinued the sanitary expert, *4s incineration — a method 
for the complete destruction of sewage in a garbage 
furnace, having a temperature of 2,000 degrees Fahr- 
enheit for its complete combustion. One of the best 
plants of this character is at San Francisco, where a 
private company has a crematory capable of burning 
600 tons of waste material daily. Large refuse destruc- 
tors, as these furnaces are also called, were begun in 
1901 by Milwaukee and Minneapolis. Many other 
cities have since adopted the * cremation' process. 

** Boston is the first city to adopt the refuse-sort- 
ing plant. This is the first step toward the scientific 
treatment of waste products. At present all kinds of 
organic refuse are dumped together into the garbage 
pan, and find their way to the incinerator or the sea. 

**The death rate per thousand in civilized com- 
munities has fallen at least a hundred per cent since 
the beginning of the last century, and now stands at 
about 13 to 17 annually. This is wholly due to sani- 
tation, which, by enforcing a pure milk supply, in- 
specting foods and slaughter houses, and enforcing 
quarantine regulations, has eradicated typhus and a 
host of other diseases which formerly ravaged the 
world." 

**I venture the prophecy," exclaimed the sanita- 
tion engineer, **that the day will come when disease 
germs cannot live in our cities — and when garbage, 
instead of going to waste, will be turned into wealth." 



438 



Copyright by Underwood •& Underwood. 

THE MAN WHO TURNED NIGHT INTO DAY 

The modem miracle worker who dispelled darkness with the electric light ; 
who preserved the human voice on the phonograph so that men shall 
speak hundreds of years after they are dead ; who created the 
kinetoscope which causes men to appear and reappear be- 
fore our eyes many generations after they have 
entered the grave. Photograph taken for these 
"Wonder Stories" while Thomas A. Edison 
was at work in his laboratorj\ — 
See page 391. 



THE STORY OF THE PAPER MAKER 
AND A VISIT TO THE MILLS 



w 



E can seek far and wide for wonders, but 
we will find nothing more wonderful than 
this .'' 

The speaker held in his hand a plain sheet of paper. 
Tearing it into bits, he tossed the fragments into the 
air. 

^^It rivals the sleight-of-hand performers in its 
magic uses,'^ he said, ^'Without paper the modern 
world would be literally impossible. It has become a 
great part of our social and business life. We use 
it for our money; we use it to send our news into 
every part of the earth; we use it to conduct the 
great stream of business correspondence which is the 
foundation of the whole commercial world to-day. It 
is the basis of our schools; it is the keystone of our 
system of law and justice; it is the medium of ex- 
pression for our religions. 

*^The world has passed through several so-called 
'ages' — but the present period may well be called the 
^ paper age.' We almost live on paper to-day. We 
do everything with it, except actually to eat it. Cloth- 
ing, window frames, lanterns, umbrellas, handker- 
chiefs, and artificial leather are made from paper in 
Japan. Paper coffins are manufactured in the United 
States and Germany. Paper barrels, vases, and milk 
bottles are manufactured in Germany. It is possible 
now to purchase a straw hat into which enters not an 
item of straw. It is made of narrow paper strips 

29 439 



WONDER STORIES 



colored yellow. Artificial sponges are made of cellu- 
lose or paper pulp. One man has even taken out a 
patent for paper thread to be used in sewing shoes, 
and a braid of artificial silk is made on a basis of 
paper pnlp. And the use of paper in industry may be 
indefinitely extended. It is employed to make imita- 
tion porcelain, for bullets, shoes, sails for boats, boards, 
and boats. A paper stove has even been manufac- 
tured, and it is said to have satisfactorily held the 
flames. Cellulose may be used to prepare a water- 
proof coating that may be applied like paint. In Nor- 
way a church holding one thousand people was made 
entirely of paper. In many parts of China paper 
skirts are used by the natives ; they are said to be 
much warmer than cotton in cold weather. Paper 
coats are worn in Japan ; they are oiled to make them 
water-proof. 

*^ Possibly the most wonderful of all the ingenious 
uses of paper," continued the Story-teller, *4s paper 
car-wheels. Paper is now substituted with success for 
metal, stone, and wood, while paper fabrics are used 
in some cases for linen, cotton, or silk. From com- 
pressed paper are made wheels, rails, cannon, horse- 
shoes, polishers for gems, bicycles, asphalted tubes for 
gas or electric wires. With wood pulp and zinc sul- 
phate there has been an attempt, in Berlin, to make 
artificial bricks for paving. After subjecting them to 
a pressure of 2,000 tons per cubic centimeter, they 
are baked for forty-eight hours. In similar fashion 
are made roofing-tiles and water-pipes. Telegraph 
poles made of rolled sheets of paper are hollow, lighter 
than wood, and resist weather well. 

**But even more remarkable than the uses to which 
we put paper," said the mill operator, **are the diversi- 
fied substances from which we make paper — there are 
109 of them. Some are quite unique. Paper has been 

440 



STORY OF PAPER 



made from the bracken or fern in Scotland; from 
frogs ' spittle in Eed Hook, New York ; from the stems 
and roots of horseradish in England ; from rushes and 
flags ; from peat in France ; from hornets ' nests, saw- 
dust, stone, tow, gutta-percha, ivory chips, asbestos, 
bran, all kinds of fibrous plants, and many woods, be- 
sides the usual mill stock of rags and waste paper. 
Only a few, of course, are commercially practicable. 
*^We are slowly eating up our forests to turn them 
into paper,'' exclaimed the Story-teller. '^We are 
using nearly 5,000,000 cords of wood this year to 
make paper. One metropolitan Sunday paper will use 
100 tons of paper, which requires for its manufacture 
125 cords of wood, enough standing timber to cover six 
acres. A Philadelphia newspaper that owned its paper 
mills once made a trial of rapid paper-making. It 
was able to turn wood from the growing tree into the 
printed page in twenty-two hours. Thousands of 
square miles of forests are being cut down to feed our 
paper mills. This is resulting in drying up our rivers 
and even checking our rainfall. At the rate at which 
the forests are disappearing, since the coming of the 
* paper age,' it is only a question of years before the 
supply will be exhausted. The paper mills of the 
United States are turning out over 5,000,000 tons of 
their product every year. Its commercial value is 
over $300,000,000, or more than twice that of all the 
gold and silver mined annually in this country. There 
are 9,000 people working in the paper mills. The 
total horse-power required to operate these mills is 
1,304,265, exceeding the horse-power of the cotton in- 
dustry and approaching that of iron and steel. It is 
estimated that 2,400,000 tons of this paper become 
absolute waste within three or four years, representing 
a waste of $10,000,000 per year. The United States 

441 



WONDER STORIES 



produces and consumes more paper than any other 
country in the world/ ^ 

'^When and how did all this begin?'' asked one of 
the listeners. 

*^The first paper was made probably as early as 
2,000 B. C, in Egypt," replied the mill operator. ^'It 
was taken from a tall sedge (Cyperus papyrus) which 
grew in dense beds along the Nile and in the adjacent 
countries. It is called the bulrush in the Bible, and 
grows 10 to 15 feet high. The pith was edible, either 
cooked or raw. The plant was serviceable for making 
mats, sail cloths, and light boats. Twenty sheets of 
papyrus could be made from one stalk, and the layers 
nearest the pith were the whitest and best. The Ro- 
mans improved papyrus, whitening it with a mixture 
of flour and a little vinegar. Alexandria at one time 
was the seat of papyrus trade and manufacture. It 
was much in use until the eighth century and remained 
in use until the eleventh. 

*'The Chinese first made paper from pulp, using 
the inner bark of the bamboo end of the mulberry 
tree. The Arabs learned the art from Chinese pris- 
oners taken in a repulse of a Chinese invasion in A. 
D. 751. They resorted to flax, and then rags, and 
later other vegetable fibers. This method of paper- 
making was introduced into Europe through the Mos- 
lem conquest of Spain. In A. D. 800, linen paper 
began to supplant papyrus and was introduced into 
China in the tenth century. The first paper mill men- 
tioned in England was in 1498, in the time of Henry 
VII. Peter the Great introduced the art from Ger- 
many into Russia, in 1712. 

^'The first paper made in America was produced 
by William Rittinghuysen, or Rittenhouse, at Ros- 
borough, or Germantown, on a brook still called Paper 
Mill Run, in the year 1690. The output was 250 

442 



STORY OF PAPER 



pounds a day, made from linen rags. The paper on 
which the Declaration of Independence was written 
was especially made for the purpose by Thomas Amies 
of Philadelphia, a considerable quantity being pro- 
duced at the time. To insure the best results new 
rolls were made and the machine especially prepared. 
The paper was of excellence beyond anything before 
made. Only the finest linen rags were taken. Each 
sheet was 22x36 inches. Each ream weighed 140 
pounds and the price was $125 per ream. 

^' Paper was first made in a continuous web, in 
1799, by a Frenchman, Louis Robert, who was awarded 
8,000 francs by the French Government. The process 
was perfected in England by Fourdrinier, who gave 
the name of the machine. 

^^The greatest paper producing center in the world 
is the city of Holyoke, Mass., where the Connecticut 
River is dammed. About 200 tons a day are being 
produced here — nearly all high class writing paper. 
The canals are upon several levels and the water sup- 
ply and power are abundant. In passing about the 
city, one crosses the canals continually, and the smell 
of paper ingredients is in the air. In the government 
mills at Dalton, Massachusetts, operated by the Crane 
family, descendants of Zenias Crane, one of the first 
paper-makers of New England, the paper for bank 
notes is made. Only new, clean, linen rags are used — 
the refuse of linen mills. A silk thread is introduced 
from cross troughs over the pulp, letting out bits of 
silk held in the liquid which traverses them. 

**It would be interesting to visit the paper mills 
and see how rags and wood pulp are transformed by 
almost magic machinery into paper, but my story to- 
day must end here.'' 



443 



THE STORY OF THE GLASS BLOWER 
AND HIS CREATIONS OF BEAUTY 



THE Story-tellers watclied with amusement the 
attempts of one of their gathering to catch a fly. 
Finally he succeeded, and placing it in an up- 
turned glass, closed the opening of the glass with his 
hand. Turning, with triumph gleaming on his face, 
he said: 

^^Do you want to see me make that fly grow 100 
times its size in an instant f" 

''Yes!'^ exclaimed a half dozen voices, and the 
Story-tellers gathered around him, while the fly- 
catcher drew something from his pocket and placed it 
over the opening. 

^'Look!'' he exclaimed, and there was the fly re- 
vealed as large as a small bird. ^^ Isn't that a miracle?'' 

^'It's a magnifying glass," said a practical man. 

*^Yes, a magnifying glass — a miracle that is no 
longer a miracle," paradoxically spoke the Story- 
teller. *^It is as commonplace as creating fire by rub- 
bing a stick across a board. But the miracle, the ability 
to make that fly grow under your eyes, is still there. 
And it is this miracle, known to man since the days 
of Nineveh, that has revealed the hidden secrets of the 
heavens and even the blood corpuscles in our veins. 

**The prime secret of its magic is, of course, its 
transparency — ^the great feature of glass. Did you 
know that glass, one of man's greatest boons, came to 
him through accident! Pliny, the Eoman scribe, re- 
lates that some Phoenician merchants, some 3,000 

444 



STORY OF GLASS 



years before Christ, set their cooking pots upon the 
seashore which contained at that spot the essentials 
of glass. When they removed their pots a fairly trans- 
parent mass greeted their eyes, and led to their trying 
to imitate it. That was the beginning, and the secret 
passed on to the Egyptians, who nsed it to make sham 
jewels — the practice exists to-day, I might add — and 
then on to the Eomans, who adorned their persons with 
it and made toilet articles of it, as well as household 
utensils, mural mosaics, and tessellated pavements. 

^' About the first articles manufactured in America 
by English colonists were of glass made from the ma- 
terials found around Jamestown, Virginia, in 1609. 
The first glass factory is said to have been erected at 
Manheim, Pennsylvania, about the year 1761, and was 
under the direction of Baron William Henry Stiegel, 
of Germany. Thus Pennsylvania was the first in the 
industry, as it is the first in production of glass to- 
day. ' ' 

''How much do we produce in the United States 
annually?" inquired the banker. 

About $100,000,000 worth," was the answer. 
This sum is increased by more than $16,000,000 
earned in the glass staining, cutting, and ornamental 
works. Nearly 90,000 Americans are employed in these 
industries. 

''Have you any idea how many electric light bulbs 
were made in 1911 to illuminate our homes, offices, and 
cities in general? Only about 150,000,000. In the same 
year we made about the same number of jelly tumblers 
and goblets, and 110,000,000 blown tumblers and other 
similar goods. It would require about 36,000 of the 
largest freight cars to transport the more than a mil- 
lion tons of glass sand used in the glass industry every 
year. 

445 



i i 

i i 



WONDER STORIES 



*'We now are at the portals of a wonderful age — 
the Glass Age, according to the predictions of eminent 
authorities. We have been content for generations to 
use glass for bottles, dishes, spectacles, watch crystals, 
adornment, window panes, mirrors and scores of other 
articles. But now the genius of man has made glass a 
greater boon to civilization. In the tropics glass tele- 
graph poles have already replaced the wooden ones, 
and are defying the ravages of pestiferous bugs and 
insects. Germany has houses equipped with glass 
water pipes, and France has cities whose streets are 
paved with blocks of glass. The Sultan of Turkey 
has erected a most gorgeous staircase, twenty-five feet 
wide and illuminated with colored lights, which is made 
of glass. The Mexicans have installed in their Na- 
tional Theater a magnificent theater curtain of glass, 
which weighs over twenty-seven tons and is composed 
of one million separate pieces of glass. A wonderful 
art pattern has been worked into it and depicts the 
volcanoes of Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl, with all 
their gorgeous color tones. 

^^It is a wonderful age — it is already hero. How 
would our ladies like to clean their hats and dresses, 
as well as their carpets, napkins, tablecloths, window 
curtains, and even the lingerie by simply throwing 
them into the fireplace and afterward brushing them 
with a hard brush! These articles are being made in 
Austria to-day, and are produced in white, green, lilac, 
pink, and yellow. They are as soft and pliable as the 
finest of silks. 

^^Did you ever hear of the burglar-proof window 
paneT' asked the Story-teller. ^^That is a sheet of 
glass so tough that a hammer will not shatter it, and 
a bullet will penetrate and leave a hole only as large 
as itself. Did you ever hear the name Eudolph 

446 



STORY OF GLASS 



Blasclikal He, a native of Bohemia, is the only man 
in the world who can make glass flowers. He learned 
the secret from his father, now dead, who made that 
wonderful collection of plants modeled in glass, which 
now rests in the Harvard University museum. 

^'We Americans have done some wonderful things 
with glass. One of these is the glass bridge spanning 
the Eoyal Gorge out in Colorado. Its floor is made of 
plate glass through which you can look down for a 
distance of half a mile to the Arkansas River flowing 
underneath. In Wyoming, in the Yellowstone Park, is 
one of Nature's glass handiworks — a glass cliif 300 
feet high and a half a mile long. 

"What is glass made of? A combination of sand, 
soda, lime, and from 2,000 to 12,000 degrees of heat! 
The interior of a glass furnace sometimes reaches 
that last inconceivable intensity — a temperature sixty 
times as hot as that of boiling water. 

"Glass making originally was handwork, pure and 
simple. The worker, after the mixture had become 
liquid, thrust a hollow pipe into it and gathered a 
quantity on its end. Then he blew through the tube 
to form the glass into a bubble or cylinder, much like 
you would blow a soap bubble. But to-day we manu- 
facture glass by machinery. A window pane when it 
comes from the blowing machine and is trimmed, 
looks like a section of stovepipe. This is cut open 
with a diamond and the sheet rolled flat. Plate glass, 
such as you find in your bank window, is taken from 
the melting pot in liquid form and poured out upon a 
table which has a marginal edge of a height equal 
to that of the desired thickness of glass. A roller 
smoothes out the mass, and next it is annealed and 
polished. Bottles are simply blown by machinery and 
formed in molds. Bowls and pitchers, such as you find 

447 



WONDER STORIES 



scintilating upon the buffet, are made of the best flint 
or * Jena' glass. We form the boTvls, or blanks, in the 
glass factory, and the glass cutters weave their intri- 
cate designs upon them through the use of grindstones 
and polishing wheels. 

''If you ever have the opportunity,'' said the Story- 
teller, in conclusion, ''do not fail to visit a glass fac- 
tory — only do not go in the summer months, for you 
Trill find them closed; old Sol and our modern gas- 
fired furnaces make things too hot even for the glass- 
maker. It is a fascinatino- sio'ht — one that vou will 
never forget. And it will show you how we American 
glass blowers are making that magical substance which 
at once keeps out the cold north winds and lets in the 
warming rays of the sun." 



448 



THE STORY OF THE RUBBER KING AND 
A JOURNEY INTO THE JUNGLES 



"T AM going to tell you the story of tlie jungle — 
_!_ and how a bankrupt American merchant made 
a great discovery that accelerated the world's 
progress.'' 

The speaker was a short, stout, red-faced man. 

*^I have just come from the jungles of South 
America," he said. ^^I have been exploring the vast 
country along the banks of the Amazon. In the forests 
I watched the black natives tapping the trees to get the 
precious sap. As it dripped into their pails, I realized 
for the first time how it could all be traced back to the 
poor storekeeper in the United States, who, by a single 
idea, turned this vast wilderness into a land of almost 
unlimited resources — until even the trees bleed riches. 

*'It is the story of rubber," said the traveler, *^and 
how it was brought about by American genius. The 
rubber or *gum' tree stood for many centuries in the 
forests, waiting to be called into the service of man- 
kind. It was first discovered by a party of astrono- 
mers in Peru, in 1735. It was first called gum-elastic, 
then caoutchouc, and finally India-rubber. Not until 
1770 was the strange gum given serious attention by 
civilized men. In that year a few lumps were sent to 
England, and some one discovered that they could be 
used by artists for erasing pencil marks. Much 
curiosity was excited when a Boston captain, coming 
from South American ports in 1823, brought a pair of 
crude gum shoes. Two years later, a Boston mer- 

449 



WONDER STORIES 



chant, who thought he saw possibilities in the ^gum 
elastic,' imported five hundred pairs of gum shoes. 
Before a decade had passed, almost a million pairs 
were brought into the country and sold at prices rang- 
ing from $3 to $5 a pair. 

* ^ The experiences of the first rubber manufacturers 
are filled with entertaining anecdotes. A company was 
organized in 1833 for the manufacture of shoes, coats, 
caps, wagon-covers, and piano-covers, and other sim- 
ilar articles made of rubber. The products of the 
factory sold so well at first that the promoters thought 
they were on the highroad to fortune. Then came 
disaster. The goods manufactured in the winter be- 
come worthless the following summer. The shoes 
melted into shapeless masses. The coats and caps and 
covers became sticky and emitted such an offensive 
smell that they had to be burned. Twenty thousand 
dollars' worth of goods were thrown back on the com- 
pany, and ruin was the result. Other concerns which 
had embarked along the same line became insolvent. 
The rubber stockholders throughout the country lost 
an aggregate of several million dollars. All confidence 
in rubber was destroyed, and, in fact, the very name 
became hateful to the people. 

**It was at this time," exclaimed the Story-teller, 
**that American genius came to the rescue and saved 
the belated ^gum' for the civilized world. There was 
living at this time a young man, thirty-three years of 
age. He was born in New Haven, Connecticut, 
but moved in his boyhood to Philadelphia, where he 
worked in his father's hardware store. When the 
son became of age, he was admitted as a partner. In 
the panic of 1836-37 the house went down, owing 
$30,000 to creditors. The young merchant, whose 
name was Charles Goodyear, was attracted, as so many 

450 



STORY OF RUBBER 



had been, by rubber, and decided to investigate its 
possibilities. It so happened that, through curiosity, 
he had been led to buy a rubber life-preserver. On 
examining it, he found a defect in the inflating valve. 
He worked over it and produced a new valve which 
worked to his satisfaction. Thinking that he had made 
a great discovery, he came to New York and offered 
to sell his device. The manager of the rubber com- 
pany let him into the secret that the concern was on 
the verge of collapse, and that the rubber industry 
was a failure. ^If, instead of the valve,' said the 
manager, *you could invent some process that would 
make rubber durable and keep the goods from melt- 
ing, then your fortune would be made.' 

^^ These words made a deep impression on the 
young storekeeper. He returned to Philadelphia in- 
tent upon experiments to make 'gum elastic' durable. 
But he was immediately arrested and sent to prison 
for the debts of the firm. Besides this misfortune, 
he was in poor health. The combination of woes was 
enough to discourage any man. But he persevered. 
Crude rubber was cheap, and he was able to get enough 
of it to make experiments. When he got out, he still 
continued his experiments. He became so infatuated 
with the idea that he thought of nothing else. 

**Many people regarded Goodyear as crazy on the 
subject. He talked of nothing but rubber. He was 
poor, wretchedly poor, and he had a wife and family; 
but he succeeded in borrowing funds from his friends 
to continue his experiments. He depended on the 
pawnshops until reduced to such a state that he had 
scarcely anything left to pawn. He made rubber 
boots, shoes, caps, and coats — but all were failures. He 
clothed himself in his own manufacture, so that he 
was ironically termed Hhe rubber man.' Once a 
stranger inquired for him and asked how he could be 

451 



WONDER STORIES 



recognized. ^Oh,' said his informant, 4f you see a 
man with a rubber coat, rubber trousers, rubber cap, 
rubber shoes, and a rubber purse in his pocket without 
a cent in it, be sure that is Goodyear.' 

''But through poverty and suffering success was 
coming. One day, he was bronzing the surface of 
some rubber drapery, and, finding the bronze rather 
heavy, he applied aqua-fortis to eat it away. The 
acid removed the bronze, but it seemingly destroyed 
the fabric — so Goodyear threw it awav. However, 
he chanced to pick it up again and, on examining it 
closely, was surprised to find that the rubber was not 
destroyed, but so hardened that it would stand a 
great degree of heat without melting. 

' ' Goodyear was on the brink of his great vulcaniz- 
ing discovery. He hastened to patent it, and engaged 
in the manufacture of rubber treated with aqua- 
fortis. He had begun to make some money, when a 
panic swept the country, and he went down to defeat 
again. After a while, he persuaded some business men 
to join him in opening their old factory. Then came 
the discovery that his process was a failure after all. 
The aqua-fortis hardened the surface only; the rest 
of the rubber would not bear the test. The business 
men withdrew their funds, and Goodyear was left to 
struggle alone. 

**The few friends that Goodyear had left begged 
and pleaded with him to give up his 'wild dream.' 
But he turned a deaf ear to them and plodded on, in 
the hope of reaching the successful goal. Nathaniel 
Hayward, once foreman of the old company, who had 
tried the effect of mixing sulphur without much suc- 
cess, stood by the deserted inventor. One day, while 
mixing a mass of gum and sulphur, he accidentally 
let it fall on a red hot stove. The result of the acci- 
dent surprised and delighted Goodyear. The com- 

452 



STORY OF RUBBER 



position was so changed in character that it would 
not melt. 

*^At last he had found the secret! It was evident 
that sulphur was the controller of India rubber. The 
problem that remained was how to mix the sulphur 
and gum so that every part of the rubber would be 
subjected to the agency of the sulphur. Goodyear 
continued to experiment, working out one thing after 
another, until at last he solved the problem of the 
compounds and how to use them. Success was achieved 
at last. Eubber was made durable and fit for practical 
use, by washing it with sulphur and then subjecting it 
to a great degree of heat. The secret of ^vulcanizing' 
had given the world a new substance which was to 
make the name of Goodyear famous. 

*^This was the invention," remarked the traveler, 
*Hhat has made the forests of South America, and 
other parts of the earth, pour forth their riches, until 
to-day the manufacture of rubber, and the various uses 
to which it is applied, is one of the most important 
factors in the march of progress. At the present time, 
the amount of rubber annually called for in the United 
States alone amounts to almost one hundred million 
pounds, while the capital invested in the industry 
equals a dollar to the pound, or the great total of 
one hundred million dollars.'' 



453 



THE STORY OF THE PRINTING PRESS 
AS THE GUARDIAN OF LIBERTY 



A GENIAL faced man stood beside the library 
table. His glance followed along the well-filled 
book shelves and then dropped to the table 
whereon reposed stacks of magazines and newspapers. 

*^The shelves of this library seem to be well sup- 
plied," he said to the Story-tellers. ^'I cannot help 
but compare it with the libraries of the year 1803. 
In that day, the library of the average man generally 
consisted of the Bible, Pilgrim's Progress, Foxe's Book 
of Martyrs, and Johnson's Dictionary. Magazines 
were unknown, and newspapers were scarce and hardly 
readable. ' ' 

He seemed lost in thought for a moment, and then 
asked: ^'Have you any idea how many different kinds 
of books — ^not including magazines and newspapers — • 
are printed every year?" 

No one could answer. 

**One authority has said," he continued, ^'that ap- 
proximately 150,000 kinds are published throughout 
the world — that, since the beginning of printing back 
in the days of Johann Gutenberg, about 12,163,000 sep- 
arate works have been produced. In the United States 
alone, in the year 1911, we published 11,123. This 
means that, estimating conservatively, more than 
25,000,000 books were printed. 

^*That is the miracle that has been wrought since 
the year 1803, the birthday of the modern printing 
press. Before that day all printed matter was printed 

454 



STORY OF THE PRINTING PRESS 

upon a crude hand-printing machine, not unlike a 
cheese- or cider-press. It was that kind of press which 
Johann Gutenberg used in the year 1450 to print the 
first book, a Bible containing 36 lines, that had ever 
been printed by movable type. 

*'They were crude machines, being operated by 
hand power. The type were set within a flat frame, 
or *bed,' and then inked by rubbing a ball of wool 
over them by hand. This frame was set in the bottom 
of the press, and a corresponding flat platen pressed 
down upon the dampened paper which covered the 
type. Then the paper was hung up to dry. 

**In the year 1814, the publishers of the London 
Times astonished the world by printing 800 papers in 
an hour on the steam printing press which Frederich 
Koenig, a Saxon, invented. Compare that with what 
our modern printing presses are doing every day in 
some of our metropolitan newspaper offices. There 
in the center of the pressroom is a mammoth mechan- 
ical genius which sweeps the whole gamut of mechan- 
ical ingenuity — from the most delicate chronometer to 
the swiftest locomotive. It virtually is twelve presses 
combined into one. It prints, pastes loose sheets to- 
gether, folds, counts and stacks 160,000 sixteen page 
newspapers in an hour. 

^^Let us compare its marvelous speed with our 
great railroad engines. The distance between New 
York and Chicago is about 900 miles, and the quickest 
schedule time by railroad is 20 hours. Starting the 
printing press and the locomotive at the same instant, 
the former will have printed and folded and counted 
into newspapers more than 1,000 miles of paper before 
the locomotive has completed half of its journey to 
the Illinois city. The paper is supplied to the press 
from rolls, weighing about a ton apiece. When one 
30 455 



WONDER STORIES 



roll is finished, another stands ready and is auto- 
matically pasted onto the end of the paper as it leaves 
the first roll — and this is done without halting the 
flying machinery for an instant. 

^^That is the miracle which permits the American 
publishers to print more than 120,000,000 copies of 
newspapers and periodicals in a year. That is the 
miracle which allows the newspaper and periodical 
publisher to sell 8, 10 and even 16-page publications 
for a cent apiece, and enables him to distribute mil- 
lions of copies throughout our nation every day — and 
allows him to publish many editions during the day. 

**The progress of the printing press has been slow, 
but sure. The first printing press made in America 
came from the shop of Adam Eamage, in Philadelphia, 
in 1795. In 1817 George Clymer, of Pennsylvania, 
built the first printing press capable of printing on 
both sides of a newspaper at once. In 1822, Daniel 
Treadwell, of Boston, made the first American print- 
ing press operated by steam. Next, Eobert Hoe con- 
structed the type revolving press, in which the type 
form was arranged on one cylinder and made to im- 
print upon paper passing over smaller cylinders. Then, 
William Bullock, of Philadelphia, applied the principle 
of printing on both sides simultaneously to the steam 
press. This marked the dawn of the printing era. 

*^ To-day the printing industry is the sixth in im- 
portance in the United States. It gives employment 
to more than a quarter of a million people, and created, 
in the year 1909, products valued at $737,876,000~a 
sum much greater than the total value of men's cloth- 
ing, or cotton goods, or boots and shoes." 



456 



THE STOKY OF THE TYPE-SETTER AND 
THE MARVELOUS LINOTYPE 



EVEN the sober-minded scientist smiled in re- 
sponse to the good humor expressed in the face 
of the next Story-teller. His smile broadened 
when he heard his opening words: 

^'I am a magician/' declared the jovial speaker. 
^^I take the thoughts from man's mind and words 
from his mouth and put them before you in visible 
form so that you may read them. That is the magical 
story which I have the pleasure of relating to-night. 

^^I am a typesetter," he said in explanation. *'Not 
a typesetter of a generation ago, who laboriously 
picked his type from the case and then set it in his 
^ stick,' but the modern worker, who presses the keys 
of a marvelous machine and forms words and lines 
and columns and books as fast as the average typist 
can operate a typewriter. I can set as much type in 
one hour by our modern machine as the old-time hand 
worker could set in an 8-hour day." 

^^Who made the first type?" asked some one. 

*^The world has placed the laurel wreath for this 
wonderful achievement upon the brow of Johann Gut- 
enberg, a native of Germany, who made the first mov- 
able type about the year 1438. Some historians, how- 
ever, have pointed out that there are Korean books 
which were printed from movable type made of clay 
as early as 1317. Gutenberg carved his type out of 
wood. His collaborator, Peter Schoffer, improved this 
method by substituting metal for wood. Four cen- 

457 



WONDER STORIES 



turies after the birth of printing, an American watch- 
maker, Ottmar Mergenthaler, revolutionized the print- 
ing industry with his marvelous linotype, which trans- 
formed cold metal into solid lines of type-matter. 

''This American genius was not the first to attempt 
this wonderful achievement. For more than three- 
quarters of a century, the world's greatest mecha- 
nicians had struggled with the problem. Twenty years 
before Howe invented the sewing-machine, a Connecti- 
cut inventor, William Church, created a machine to 
set type, but, like the hundreds that followed, his 
stumbling block proved to be one of the most important 
features of the modern machine. That is, to auto- 
matically justify the type. Justifying type means to 
have a uniform space between words and sentences. 

' ' In this feature alone, the modern linotype is more 
intelligent and accurate than the average human type- 
setter. As each word is completed, the operator 
presses a key which drops a wedge-shaped space. When 
the line is completed, these wedges are driven upward 
between the words, thus assuring exact spacing be- 
tween the words. 

^'If you have ever been in a modern composing 
room, you no doubt have been fascinated by the won- 
derful linotypes in operation. The machine resembles, 
roughly speaking, a small pipe organ of iron and steel, 
with a typewriter set in position where the organ's 
key-board would be. Before this key-board the oper- 
ator sits operating the keys and following the manu- 
script which hangs before him. Every time he presses 
a key, a little mould, in which that particular letter is 
to be cast, takes its place beside the preceding letter in 
an assembler. When the line of moulds is complete, 
a bell warns the operator and he begins a new line. 
The completed line of moulds is automatically carried 
by the machine to a pot of liquid metal. Here a little 

458 



STORY OF THE LINOTYPE 



pump forces the metal into the moulds, and the type 
are cast. When the letters are solidified into a solid 
line of type as it will appear on the printed page, the 
line, or ^slng,' drops into its proper position in a 
frame, or ^galley,' and this, when full, is carried 
away to the composing room tables. In the meantime, 
the moulds have returned to their first position and are 
ready to make another journey through the linotype. 
Thus the modern linotype operator can set more than 
1,000 words an hour, and it is by this magic that a 
battery of linotypes can digest and reproduce in cold 
type the thousands upon thousands of words that flow 
through a modern newspaper composing room in the 
space of a few hours. 

^^If you should follow the completed galley of 
freshly made type lines, you would see men laying pads 
of paper over them and by pressure making a paper 
mould of the newspaper page. This paper mould, or 
matrix, then goes to the stereotyper, who casts his 
semi-cylinder of metal from it, and, after he has 
trimmed his product, you find the galleys of type repro- 
duced exactly in a solid plate. Then this goes to the 
printing press, and the paper is printed. 

^^You are all familiar with the perforated paper 
roll of the automatic piano. We have adopted this 
principle into typesetting. A little machine, called 
the monotype, having keys like a linotype, punches 
holes in a strip of paper, the different combinations of 
holes representing different letters. It is a weird little 
contrivance, which sets its words in a continuous line 
without spacing between. But, as the operator ap- 
proaches the end of the line, a warning finger on a 
dial informs him which justifying keys he must strike 
in order that the line, when cast, may be of proper 
length. These justifying perforations are made at 

459 



WONDER STORIES 



the end of each line. When the paper tape is taken 
to the typecasting machine, usually situated in an- 
other room, it is fed in backwards, so that the casting 
machine, by ^feeling' of the justifying perforations, 
so to speak, can automatically arrange its space cast- 
ing mechanism to properly separate the words and 
cast the right length of line. 

**The magical feature of the casting machine is 
in that blasts of air form the type. When the tape 
passes over the proper part of the machine, the air- 
blast blows the type moulds into position, as they are 
called for by the different combinations of air cur- 
rents. Then the metal type are cast much in the man- 
ner of the linotype, and are ready to be placed upon 
the printing press. 

*^My friend the pressman has told you the wonders 
of the great double sextuple and double octuple print- 
ing presses. He is more familiar with them than I 
am. But, while listening to his story, do not forget 
that, without the modern typesetting machinery, his 
machinery would not be possible." 



460 



THE STORY OF THE IMMIGRANT AND 
THE LURE OF AMERICAN FREEDOM 




Y fellow-Americans,'^ said the dark-eyed man 
with the long black beard, addressing the 
Story-tellers, with a slightly foreign accent, '^I 
have listened to the stories of yonr wonderful achieve- 
ment with awe and admiration. I believe that you are 
the greatest people on the face of the earth. The 
world looks to you for leadership. But there is one 
thing that I beg to call to your minds. It is this: 
greatness does not consist alone of genius in inven- 
tion, of material growth, or even scientific discovery. 
Behind it all there must be stamina and character." 

The spontaneous clapping of hands and cries of 
'*Good! Good!'' seemed to embarrass the stranger. 
He hesitated a moment and then continued. 

**So," he said, *^with your kind permission I beg 
to say a few words for the great flood of human 
brothers who come to your shores to be merged into 
your citizenship and form the backbone and sinew of 
this great nation. My story is the modern classic of 
the * Melting Pot'; how a million human lives are be- 
ing poured into it every year ; and how they are being 
transmuted from dross into pure gold — it is the mir- 
acle of immigration. 

*^I never fully realized what the word * miracle' 
meant," said the stranger, ^^ until I came to America. 
Then I saw the raw materials of the earth poured 
onto your shores; I watched it pass through your 
schools and churches; I witnessed its miraculous 

461 



WONDER STORIES 



transformation into a free and educated people ; I saw 
it build your homes and industries ; I saw it begin to 
produce your art and science — then I began to com- 
prehend that we still live in the days of miracles — 
miracles even more wonderful than the loaves and 
fishes or the parting of the waters of the Red Sea." 

His voice was now drowned by the ovation that 
greeted his words. 

*^Let me tell you about this miracle of transmut- 
ing the peoples of all races and creeds into loyal 
Americans/' he shouted. ^^It began back with the 
first shipload of Englishmen that came to Jamestown, 
Virginia, in 1607. It was substantially fortified when 
the sturdy Dutch settled on Manhattan Island in 1613. 
It was permanently assured when the Pilgrims landed 
on Plymouth Rock in 1620. The great influx began, 
however, when you established on this continent, in 
1787, the great republic that was to be the first asylum 
for the oppressed people of the earth. In the first 
thirty years of this republic about 266,000 immigrants 
came to this country. 

*^What brought these pilgrims in such amazing 
numbers to America? The answer is: freedom and 
opportunity. Men and women came here to escape 
tyranny and persecution, to avail themselves of the 
freedom of the new country. At first the newcomers 
were mainly English; then the Germans began to ar- 
rive. When the news that gold had been discovered 
in California spread throughout Europe, it brought 
hundreds of thousands of immigrants in 1849. At this 
time the famine in Ireland was unusually severe, and 
between 1851 and 1860, Ireland sent 914,119 souls to 
make their fortunes in this new country. 

^^Then came the Civil War and for two years im- 
migration fell off. Rut even the uncertainty of Amer- 
ica's future could not crush the hardy spirit of the 

462 



STORY OF IMMIGRATION 



immigrant. In the year of the battles of Gettysburg 
and Vicksburg, 174,524 persons came to America. War 
had destroyed a million men. There was need of citi- 
zens who could work with a will, to build up a country. 
Great railroads were to be constructed, and huge fac- 
tories needed laborers. Each year saw an astounding 
increase in the immigration figures. The West became 
more and more accessible as the covered wagon of the 
pioneer gave way to the locomotive. A mighty tor- 
rent of sturdy men was poured into the great new 
country. 

^^Then came a few lean years and the prosperity 
of America lost a little of its magical appeal to Euro- 
peans. Immigration fell off steadily from 1874 to 
1879. Yet even in the leanest of these years 
138,469 aliens arrived. But the depression could not 
last long. About three times as many foreigners 
landed in 1880 as in the previous years. Now Ger- 
many sent forth its great army. In the next decade 
1,452,970 Germans left their homes to become Ameri- 
cans. With the coming of the twentieth century the 
great migration surged on, until 1,285,349 arrived in 
the United States during the year of 1907, to be 
merged into the trades and industries. Among these 
arrivals in 1912 were 135,726 laborers, 116,529 ser- 
vants, 184,154 farm laborers, 18,836 tailors, 10,240 
merchants and dealers, 11,034 carpenters and joiners, 
8,671 shoemakers, 12,701 clerks and accountants, 4,124 
mariners, 5,889 miners. 

^' Where do the immigrants go? That is the 
miracle. Many of them settle in the large cities; 
others go far west to build new cities, to perform new 
miracles, or to work in mines, or grow fruits. They 
go to the cattle country; they become prosperous 
farmers in the Middle West ; they cultivate the small 

463 



WONDER STORIES 



farms of the Xorth; tliey become the brawn of the 
manufacturing industries. They have constructed 
our railroads, dug our canals, and tunneled our moun- 
tains. Thev are the sinew back of our progress." 

^^Has America room for these millions of new citi- 
zens?" asked one of the listeners. 

^^So vast is this country," answered the speaker, 
*^that even now you have a comparatively small pop- 
ulation. The area of Texas is 57,950 square miles 
greater than that of Germany; yet Germany's popula- 
tion is 64,904,423, while the population of Texas is only 
3,896,542. Arizona is larger than Italy, but Arizona 
holds 204,354 persons, while Italy contains 32,475,253. 
New Mexico has a slightly greater area than Great 
Britain and Ireland, yet the former has a population 
of 327,301, and the latter 45,216,741. 

^^The miracle lies not in the vast numbers but in 
the way they are assimilated into productive occupa- 
tions. The school and the library, the right to wor- 
ship and to vote, exert a mighty influence upon these 
children of Europe and Asia and Africa. From a 
hundred nations they come, and in God's crucible they 
are changed as if by wizardry into Americans, eager 
to help work out honorably the progress and destiny 
of the greatest nation on earth." 

Again the hearers joined in expressing their ap- 
proval. 

**As a parting word to you," exclaimed the stran- 
ger, *'let me recite those eloquent words from the 
poet-dramatist. 'There she lies, the great melting 
pot — listen; can't you hear the roaring and the bub- 
bling? There gapes her mouth — the harbors where a 
thousand mammoth feeders come from the ends of the 
world to pour in their human freight. Ah, what a 
stirring and a seething. Celt and Latin, Slav and 

464 



STORY OF IMMIGRATION 



Teuton, Greek and Syrian, black and yellow, Jew and 
Gentile, yes. East and West, the palm and the pine, 
the pole and the equator, the crescent and the cross, 
how the great alchemist melts and fuses them with 
his purging flame! Here shall they all unite to build 
the Republic of Man and the Kingdom of God. Ah, 
what is the glory to come and Jerusalem, where all 
nations and races come to worship and look back, com- 
pared with America, where all races and nations come 
to labor and look forward.' " 

As the stranger sat down, the Story-tellers gath- 
ered about him to grasp his hand in brotherly wel- 
come. 



465 



THE STORY OF THE PHILANTHROPIST 
AND HIS GIFTS TO HUMANITY 



A SWEET-FACED little woman was the center 
of a gronp of interested Story-tellers. She was 
speaking quietly but earnestly, and her face 
shone with enthusiasm. 

*'I am an optimist/' she was saying. ^* There is 
so much true charity in the world to-day that I cannot 
help but believe in human nature and nowhere in the 
world is it more splendidly displayed than in our own 
country. 

* ^ I am a worker among the poor, ' ' she added, drop- 
ping her eyes modestly, ^^and I know of what I 
speak.'' 

**Let us have your story," cried one or two of the 
group. 

*^I will do my best," she replied, '^to give you 
some account of modern time philanthropy. But let 
me say first that the world owes more than it realizes 
to voluntary benevolence. What is it that supports 
our hospitals, endows our scientific institutes, cares 
for so many of the helpless and destitute, and is ever 
ready with open heart to respond to the cry of need 
and suffering, even when coming from far distant 
lands? It is," she said, dropping her voice softly, 
**the Christ-spirit that still reigns in the world, in 
spite of the sin and selfishness around us. Do you 
know that last year the people of the United States 
gave away some half billion dollars in charity? If I 
may speak on behalf of my own sex" — ^here were mur- 

466 



STORY OF PHILANTHROPY 



murs of applause — ''I would say that the women of 
America are doing a noble work in behalf of needy 
humanity. Their organized efforts have been ex- 
pressed through clubs and miscellaneous societies. 
Their activities have covered extensive fields of phil- 
anthropy — lodging-houses maintained for women and 
children in need, working girls' clubs, night schools, 
employment bureaus, boys' gymnasiums, provident 
societies, protection of child labor, collecting and dis- 
tributing new clothing for the needs of homes, hos- 
pitals and other charitable institutions — such are a few 
of the multifarious activities of benevolent woman- 
hood. 

*'In time of national disaster,'' she continued, 
raising her voice, *Svho make a nobler response than 
the American people? After the terrible Chicago fire 
of 1871, America contributed $5,000,000 to the suf- 
ferers. The Chicago problem was one of relief, pend- 
ing the resumption of trade and industry, but it was 
met gloriously by American philanthropy. Nearly 
forty thousand families were aided, or 150,000 per- 
sons. Public officials and private individuals vied with 
each other in their measures of relief. In 1889, after 
the great flood at Johnstown, subscription lists were 
opened in every community, and nearly $1,000,000 
worth of supplies were distributed to the sufferers. 
Over one thousand carloads of goods were brought 
by the railroads, free of charge. 

**In 1902, the fire and flood in Paterson, New Jer- 
sey, brought generous response to the call of a citi- 
zens' meeting. In the industrial distress in New 
York, in 1895, the most wonderful work was done by 
the East Side Belief Committee, working in the heart 
of the tenement house population. Printed appeals 
resulted in raising funds and opening a food market. 

467 



WONDER STORIES 



''Every recent disaster that we can call to mind 
tells the same story of unwearying charity. TThether 
it be an inundation, as at Galveston, an earthquake, as 
at Charleston, a cyclone, as at St. Louis, flood, fire or 
drought — a million helping hands have been held out, 
and a fresh chapter added to the long story of Ameri- 
can philanthropy. 

''Xor has this splendid benevolence been limited 
to our ovm land. The fearful Martinique disaster 
struck a sympathetic chord in American hearts, and a 
committee appointed to receive subscriptions actually 
collected $80,000 more than it could disburse. 

*'I come now," continued the speaker, ''to the or- 
ganized philanthropy of our country. Few persons 
have an adequate idea of the magnitude of poor relief 
work. The cost to the country of all forms of depen- 
dencies, including that of crime, is given at $250,000 
per annum. There is no single national poor law or 
general system of poor relief throughout the whole 
country. But there are characteristic American 
methods and laws on the subject enacted and enforced 
in the various states. 

"There is an earlv record which savs that Boston, 
in 1691, chose supervisors at a town meeting whose 
duties were to dispense funds to the poor. Each 
township was made responsible for its own poor. But 
the poor for a long period were cared for in an unsys- 
tematic way. G-radually expert siDecialization was 
introduced into American methods. According to the 
Constitution of the United States, the legislation and 
other administration of jDoor relief in America are 
controlled wholly by state legislation, with the excep- 
tion of institutions for disabled soldiers and sailors, 
controlled by the national government. Classes of in- 
digents who have claim for public relief are indigent 
defectives, neglected and abused children, mentally 

468 



STORY OF PHILANTHROPY 



and physically able adults in extreme indigence, deaf 
mutes, blind, insane, idiotic and feeble minded, epi- 
leptic, inebriates, consumptives. Many American cities 
have well organized and scientifically administered 
charity departments, municipal hospitals, lodging 
houses, and wood yards. 

^^The first Central Board of Charities in the 
United States was established in 1863 in Massachu- 
setts. Boston was at one time the only city that had 
an endowed charity, but now there are numerous cities 
with trust funds. Philadelphia has nearly forty. 

**Let me speak for a moment of the children,'' 
continued the Story-teller, a softer light coming into 
her eyes, *' those who are so specially dependent on 
us and need all our loving care. It is with regard to 
the treatment of neglected and abused children that 
we find an instructive sidelight upon the development 
of the spirit and methods of philanthropy. At the 
beginning of the eighteenth century, it was considered 
by public officials a progressive step to care for chil- 
dren in the almshouse. Before that, they had re- 
mained utterly destitute. Strange as it may sound, 
societies to protect animals were organized in America 
before societies to protect children. It was not until 
1871 that dependent children in the United States 
received public care separate from dependent adults. 
Before that they were kept in almshouses, a system ter- 
rible in its results. That year, Michigan established 
a state public school, excluding all children from alms- 
houses and providing means of education and mainte- 
nance. In 1875, New York made a similar enactment, 
and similar measures were gradually adopted in other 
states. 

^^We come now to the law of outdoor and indoor 
relief. By outdoor relief is meant relief from the 
public treasury, given and consumed in the home of 

469 



WONDER STORIES 



the indigent family without public surveillance. The 
fundamental principle embodied in the law of relief 
in homes is that it shall be temporary or furnish only 
partial support. Every American commonwealth has 
an almshouse, which, in contrast to outdoor relief, is 
designed to be more or less permanent and complete. 
The administration aspects of public philanthropy in 
America fall into four general systems; those of the 
town, of the city, of the county, of the state. In the 
town and county the fundamental institution is the 
almshouse, although outdoor as well as indoor relief 
is administered by town officials. Towns also have 
minor institutions for the care of children. 

'^The United States in one year spent $55,577,633 
on benevolent institutions (including public, private, 
and ecclesiastical), orphanages, day nurseries, hos- 
pitals, dispensaries, permanent homes, and temporary 
homes. 

*^Such," said the speaker in conclusion, *4s a brief 
review of what our country is doing in public and 
private charity. The full tale will never be told, at 
least in this world. While it is true that huge for- 
tunes are sometimes accumulated in this country, it is 
also true that they are often spent in princely gener- 
osity on the less fortunate members of the community. 
We may well be proud of the record for philanthropy 
of every kind held by our nation as a whole and by 
the individuals comprising it. 



n 



470 



THE STORY OF THE SCHOLARS AND 
THE "BOOK OF ALL BOOKS" 



THE venerable gentleman wore a long, black, silken 
gown. His gray head was crowned with the 
black ^^ mortar board' ^ cap of the scholastic 
world. Over his shoulders was thrown the brilliant 
red hood of the Doctor of Divinity. 

*^My entire life,'' he began, in low, cultured tones, 
**has been spent in studying this one book — the great- 
est book that mankind has ever known. ' ' 

He held in his hand a small leather-covered volume. 

^'This is the Book," he exclaimed, ^Hhat first re- 
vealed to man the miracle of life. In its pages are 
locked all the secrets of the universe. For more than 
two thousand years the scholars have been delving 
into its rich and apparently inexhaustible wisdom. It 
is the moral code of the progressive peoples of the 
earth. It is the masterpiece of literature and philos- 
ophy. It is the key to civilization — the Bible. 

*'The Bible," continued the scholar, ^4s the Svon- 
der book' of the ages. It has been translated, either 
in whole or in part, into nearly 500 tongues. During 
the last century, it has been placed in possession of 
more than 1,200,000,000 people. The King James 
version of the Bible contains 66 books, 1,189 chapters, 
31,173 verses, 773,746 words, and 3,566,480 letters. The 
word * Jehovah,' or Lord, occurs 6,855 times. The 
number of authors of the Bible is fifty. 

**The word * Bible' comes from the Greek word 
meaning book. It comes to us from the Latin word 

471 



WONDER STORIES 



Bihlia. The name was first used about the middle of 
the second century. The Bible first appeared in He- 
brew, Aramaic, and G-reek. The first translation of 
the Bible into English was completed by John Wycliffe 
and his fellow-workers, in 1382. The Bible was the 
first book to be printed from movable metal type by 
Gutenberg, the inventor of printing, in 1452. The first 
authorized version of the Bible was produced in 1611, 
under the patronage of King James I. About fifty 
scholars were engaged in the work, which became the 
standard form of sacred scripture for the entire Eng- 
lish race for nearly 300 years. The first American 
edition of the Bible was printed in Boston in 1752. 
The revised version was begun by English scholars, 
with a committee of American scholars as advisers, in 
1870. 

**It is from this point that an interesting story 
develops," remarked the scholar. **It is the story of 
the first American version of the Bible and how the 
gigantic task was accomplished: In the museum of 
the Union Theological Seminary in New York City, 
there is a large, oblong table, at which sixteen per- 
sons could sit comfortably. Another table of about 
the same size can be seen among the treasured posses- 
sions of Eutgers College, in New Brunswick, New Jer- 
sey. These pieces of furniture have as much right 
to be considered the scene of an American triumph 
as has any battlefield of the Eevolution. The triumph 
was not won against assaulting columns of hostile 
troops, nor against the warships of an invading fleet. 
But it was no less momentous than if much human 
blood had been shed. It was a victory of Christian 
scholarship, inspired by Christian faith. 

** These tables were formerly in two connected 
rooms in the Bible House, New York City. Around 
them on the historic day of December 7, 1871, was 

472 



STORY OF THE BIBLE 



gathered the distinguished group of American scholars 
who were to join hands across the sea with their 
British colleagues in producing the new American 
Bible. There had been a long continued revolt among 
scholars against the defects of the King James ver- 
sion, published in 1611. That version, notwithstand- 
ing the great beauty of its style, contained many im- 
portant words and phrases whose meaning had be- 
come entirely changed. The English language had 
long outgrown the life and scholarship of King James' 
day. More than forty English dictionaries had been 
published between 1611 and 1900. The greatest book 
in the English language needed a newer and more 
accurate expression of many meanings contained in 
it. The English Committee, in inviting their American 
brethren to cooperate, took one of the most important 
steps in strengthening the ties of a common blood, 
language, and religion. 

'^Let us look in upon this gathering of the great 
scholars, of whom there were thirty-two in all, in the 
rooms of the Bible House. At the head of the table, 
during the earlier stages of the revision, is the Eev. 
Dr. Theodore Woolsey, chairman of the Committee 
and ex-President of Yale University. At the foot is 
Rev. Dr. Howard Crosby, ex-Chancellor of the Uni- 
versity of New York, a fine Greek scholar as well as 
a great preacher. At the right side of the table from 
Dr. Woolsey are Bishop Alfred Lee, of the Protestant 
Episcopal Diocese of Delaware; Rev. Dr. J. Henry 
Thayer, of the Harvard Divinity School, said to be 
the foremost textual critic in America and one of the 
foremost in the world; Rev. Dr. A. C. Kendrick, of 
the University of Rochester; Rev. Dr. Timothy 
Dwight, President of Yale University; Rev. Dr. 
Matthew B. Riddle, of the Western Theological Sem- 
inary ; Dr. Thomas Chase, President of Haverf ord Col- 

473 



WONDER STORIES 



lege ; Eev. Dr. J. K. Burr, of Trenton, N. J. ; and Rev. 
Dr. E. A. Washburn, Rector of Calvary Church, New 
York City. At a private desk, at the left near Dr. 
Woolsey, sits the Rev. Dr. Philip Schaff, a scholar of 
universal, historical, and Biblical learning, a great 
executive, and a recognized mediator between the 
scholarship of Europe and America. 

**As the meeting opens. Dr. Woolsey reads por- 
tions of the English revision which have been sent to 
him. The verses of the particular passage are then 
compared by some member with the corresponding 
verses in the version of King James. If no changes 
are made, the passage is allowed to stand. If any 
change suggested is not important enough to provoke 
discussion, that fact is put on record, to be duly sent 
to the English revisers. But if the suggested change 
touches one of the doctrinal points, we see at once the 
finest exhibition of what may be called linguistic, 
historical, and theological sword play — a contest in 
which, nevertheless, there is never an unkind thrust. 
Though the weapons are finely tempered, yet more 
finely tempered still are the zeal and purpose of those 
who wield them. Christian charity, breadth of out- 
look, and the utmost nicety of discrimination com- 
bine to *give and take' in the right spirit. The dis- 
puted meaning, whose chance of life hangs, perhaps, 
by the slender thread of a Greek particle, has collec- 
tive justice done to it. It has to pass through the fires 
of eight or nine denominational furnaces. No phase 
of evangelical religious thought has been consciously 
ignored. The result is embodied in a printed state- 
ment and transmitted to the English revisers. It 
speaks well for the truly Christian spirit that animated 
the Committee that, although it was composed of mem- 
bers holding widely differing religious views, no dis- 
cussion was conducted in any but an amicable man- 

474 



STORY OF THE BIBLE 



ner throughout the meetings, which extended over 
nearly thirty years. 

**It was in 1885 that the English Committee com- 
pleted their version, but the American Committee de- 
cided to continue its investigations in the interests of 
Biblical scholarship, determined to produce a version 
that would prove to be the standard for the English- 
speaking world. Besides, they acted from a patriotic 
as well as a religious motive. At that time, the 
Biblical scholarship of America, as compared with the 
best in Europe, was considered to be on trial. It was 
looked at askance and waited for foreign recognition. 
The American revisers took up the implied challenge 
of the scholarship of Europe. 

*^The rich discoveries in the excavations in Bible 
lands began to throw new light upon disputed books 
and passages. The voices of the discovered tablets, 
the unearthed foundation stones, the monuments with 
their tell-tale dates, the newly found manuscripts mth 
their precious message, were heeded. The American 
scholars reverently listened and reverently worked. 
They welcomed every ray of light from those who were 
delving among the ruins of buried cities and the tombs 
in Palestine, Asia Minor, Egypt, Arabia, Greece, Per- 
sia — all brought their contributions of discovered truth 
to the aid of American scholarship. Not for one mo- 
ment did they stop to consider the question of per- 
sonal gain. Although men of the highest eminence, 
holding professorships in the leading universities, they 
did not hesitate to throw to the winds the large profit 
they might have gained by working for a money com- 
pensation. 

*^ There is an interesting anecdote about one occa- 
sion, when the question of money came up for con- 
sideration. Professor Thayer, one of the busiest mem- 
bers of the Committee, exclaimed: *If I took money 

475 



WONDER STORIES 



for this work, I would be ashamed to raeet President 
Woolsey in heaven!' Xight and day, in and out of 
season, in vacation time and in college term, this great 
task was both a burden and a blessing. Wherever 
they went, they took the precious manuscripts with 
them in their traveling bags. Some of them employed 
their last working hours in loving labor on the sacred 
pages, even while the shadow of death lengthened 
across their path and began to envelop them. 

"There were, however, consolations. The revisers, 
throughout their lonely vigils of mental toil, were sus- 
tained by the thought of service to mankind. They 
were, in the highest sense, striking off mental fetters 
from readers of the Bible — readers who had been 
spiritually impoverished and misled by wrong transla- 
tions of the original tongues in which the Scriptures 
were written. Take one example: they found that 
Christ never said: *Take no thought for the mor- 
row;' but something utterly different : 'Be not anxious 
for the morrow;' yet millions of Christians, for hun- 
dreds of years, were ignorantly led to believe that the 
Saviour of mankind encouraged, indeed commanded, 
heedlessness and thoughtlessness in providing for the 
morrow ! 

"The greatest achievement in American scholar- 
ship — the American version of the Bible — was given 
to the world in 1901. Recognition of its illumining 
power was instant and almost universal. Although it 
may not displace the authorized version, which is re- 
garded with love and reverence by the multitude of 
Bible readers in English-speaking lands, it is steadily 
growing in popularity. It has become the accepted 
version in many Sunday schools, in Bible schools, and 
theological seminaries. It has been of the highest 
use to Christian missionaries in foreign lands. 
Scholars of all denominations have united in praise of 

476 



STORY OF THE BIBLE 



its excellence. It has been officially approved by the 
general councils and assemblies of nearly all the de- 
nominations in the United States. An eminent Eng- 
lish authority has said: ^ It is a noble work, destined 
to become the accepted Bible of the majority of the 
Anglo-Saxon race ; and we are tempted to wish that it 
might be adopted as the one final revision of the Eng- 
lish-speaking world/ 

**In more than twenty-nine years, during which the 
American revisers were at work, it has been estimated 
that the value of their services, if they had been work- 
ing for pay, would have been between four and five 
million dollars. This amount was their free gift to 
their fellowmen, and for the lasting honor of Amer- 
ican scholarship. But who paid their expenses? There 
were rent, light, railway fares, secretaries, correspon- 
dence, and the many incidentals to be met. To the 
honor of private American citizens be it said, there 
was no lack of generous support during those toil- 
some years. Men who sympathized with the scholars 
engaged in this gigantic task gave freely in the true 
spirit of Christian helpfulness. They, too, deserve 
the gratitude of the English-speaking race for their 
aid in furthering a great work whose benefits will in- 
crease with the usefulness and glory of that race. 

* ' The Bible is the book of all books ! ' ' exclaimed the 
scholar in closing. ^*It has been the inspiration and 
guide for the great works of mankind during the last 
epoch of civilization. It is the beacon light to the 
peoples of the earth.'' 



477 



THE STORY OF THE ARCHEOLOGIST 
AND HIS ADVEXTURES IN AJMERICA 



**A /TY story, '^ began the aged man Tvitli the long 
i V X S^^J heard, ^'is the story of lost cities and 
savage men in the days long before Columbus 
discovered America." 

The Story-tellers looked up in surprise. 

^'I am an archeologist,'' said the old man. "But 
the word is much more exciting than it sounds. I 
have passed through adventures that would cause 
even my friend, the warrior, to stop and consider his 
next step. The old Indian tighter merely killed the 
aborigine when he met him — without asking any ques- 
tions or inquiring into the health, wealth, and hap- 
piness of his family. The archeologist does not work 
in exactly that way; he at least asks the questions 
before he kills his victim. But even a dead man tells 
tales to the archeologist; the ruined walls of ancient 
cities speak to him; the very excavations in the earth 
open their mouths and reveal their secrets.'' 

The listeners drew their chairs closely about the 
old Story-teller in keen anticipation. 

**I am a hunter," he said — "not a hunter of live 
animals or men, but a hunter of the origin of things. 
It is my duty to trace everything and everybody to 
its beginnings. The earliest pioneers of the United 
States had neither the means nor the knowledge to find 
out the truth about the origin of the savage tribes 
with whom they fought and traded. The hunter and 
trapper were far more concerned to kill the red man 

478 



STORY OF LOST CITIES 



than to study him. Men like Daniel Boone and Davy- 
Crockett took little care to know the origin of the 
arrow-heads, stone hatchets, totem poles, or of the 
hundreds and thousands of mounds that hid the re- 
mains of the earliest inhabitants of our continent. 

^^But, after the country became more settled, after 
the fight for Independence had been won, we began 
to ask more about our first Americans — ^the red men. 
We began to wonder what was behind the wonderful 
temples, mounds, idols, monuments, and stone walls 
that we found on our continent. Stories of great cities 
in South America, of a splendid and rich civilization, 
began to excite the interest of American travelers. 
They began to think that their native land and con- 
tinent held wonders and mysteries of civilization as 
alluring to the seeker of truth as were those of Europe 
and Asia. It was then that we determined to explore 
and explain the many signs of prehistoric life and 
civilization. Hundreds of mysterious mounds were 
uncovered, from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. 
They were found in Ohio, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Kan- 
sas, Tennessee, and many other states. Countless 
skeletons and weapons of flint and stone were found 
hidden beneath them. 

''The Great Serpent in the State of Ohio, was for 
years a puzzle to those who tried to understand it. It 
is built of earth in the form of a gigantic serpent, 
1,348 feet long. Across its widely opened jaws it 
measures 75 feet; its body is over 30 feet thick, and 
ends in a triple coil, like that of a rattlesnake. It is 
five feet above the ground, and, while some wise doubt- 
ers were saying that this great earthen serpent was 
the only one of its kind, another of equal size was 
found in the same state. Other mounds of equally 
striking size and shape were discovered. There were 
mounds made to represent the wolf, the fox, the 

479 



WDNDER STORIES 



panther, the lynx, the buffalt), in their strange designs. 
There were earthen panthers with tails 350 feet long; 
there were eagles that measured 1,000 feet from tip 
to tip of outspread wings. It is believed that these 
earthen animals were worshiped as gods by those who 
made them; for often, on digging beneath the soil, 
altars were found, and proofs that fire had been used 
in rites or worship. The ashes and charcoal, that had 
been covered for centuries, told their own story. 

**Let us go with these hunters of early American 
life to the canyons of the Southwest. As our eyes fol- 
low the surface of a gigantic cliff, soaring a thousand 
feet above our heads, we see niches apparently dug 
out of the solid rock. We look closer and see that 
rock steps have been hewn so that we can climb up 
and examine these old dwelling houses; or perhaps 
log-ladders are found. Some of the dwellings were 
built upon the tops of high cliffs. Who were these 
cliff dwellers, and how did they live? Many think 
they were the ancestors of the Pueblo Indians. 

'*In a forest in Guatemala have been found won- 
derful monuments on which the evidences of civiliza- 
tion are clearly seen. One of these is over nineteen 
feet high, five feet wide, and two feet thick. No one 
can tell its date; but on it are clear proofs that the 
civilization which produced it had a powerful priest- 
hood, great wealth, and an amazing system of calculat- 
ing time in which these early mathematicians under- 
took to tell on what day of their year, and on what 
hour in that day, a predicted event would fall 34,000 
years distant. Near this monument is a gigantic stone 
turtle, covered with beautiful carvings, and weighing 
27 tons, or 54,000 pounds. 

**Let us transport ourselves to Cuzco, the city of 
the old Incas, or rulers of Peru. As we ascend the 
hill on which that ancient capital was built, we stand 

480 



STORY OF LOST CITIES 



before the ruins of Eaesahuaman ; it is a gigantic for- 
tress — the greatest monument of prehistoric man in 
America. Its zigzag walls are twenty feet high, and 
were built so as to repel the attacks of enemies from 
all sides. If extended in a straight line, they would 
be one-third of a mile long. They are built chiefly 
of enormous boulders, and the observer is astonished 
at the strength that could bring such immense stones 
up the steep heights and put them into place with 
such exquisite skill. Some portions of these walls are 
built of hewn stone, without cement, and so tightly put 
together that, to quote the words of a celebrated 
traveler : ^ There is not room for a knife blade between 
them. The world has nothing to show in the way of 
stone-cutting and fitting to surpass it.' 

^^An hour's ride by railway from the City of Mexico 
brings us to the little hamlet of San Juan, Teotihuacan, 
and in ten minutes' walk from this obscure place we 
reach the foot of the Pyramid of the Sun. As the 
observer muses upon these stupendous monuments of. 
fallen greatness, he begins to know the meaning of the 
phrase: ^We, too, shall pass away.' " 

The old archeologist paused a moment. 

*'I wonder," he said, thoughtfully, *4f in the future 
day some student will be studying the strange devices 
and implements that we leave behind! I wonder if 
our homes will appear to them as crude structures 
of a strange people! Will our monuments appear to 
them as crude works of art! Will our paintings be 
grotesque! Will our cities fall into decay and ruin, 
to make way for a newer and better civilization! Is 
there any end to the progress of man!" 



481 



THE STORY OF THE EXPLORER WHO 
DIGS UP LONG LOST CITIES 



THE aged gentleman, with long white hair and 
thin face, leaned on the back on his chair as 
he spoke. 

^*An antiquarian, seated in his study, surrounded 
by musty books, peering through the pages printed in 
dead languages, and mumbling strange words, would 
scarcely answer to the popular notion of a hero," he 
began. ^^ Possibly I may be even less interesting. But 
if I were seen standing before a mound, musing, and 
surrounded by a score of men with spades and pick- 
axes, I might excite curiosity. If the scene were in 
the distant and storied East, near a long buried city, 
in whose ruins were secrets which the whole Christian 
world longed to know, the imagination would be 
aroused. If it were also seen that the hired helpers 
with spades and pickaxes were swarthy Arabs, and 
that, in the shifty and greedy eyes of some of them, 
there lurked threats of robbery and murder — then it 
would begin to be truly interesting.'' 

The venerable Story-teller looked like a prophet 
of old in his long black garb. 

** Explorations in the Holy Land," he exclaimed — 
^Hhat has been my life work — the resurrection of 
buried cities. For ages, men have braved hunger, 
frost, sickness, and the ice of Arctic and Antarctic 
seas until the North Pole was found by an American 
and the South Pole by a Norwegian. But there have 
been other explorations — not for the discovery of new 

482 



STORY OF THE EXPLORER 



lands, but for the rediscovery of old secrets in ancient 
lands, for the vast treasures of knowledge hidden under 
the soil of Palestine, Asia Minor, Persia, Egypt, and 
amid the ruins of Babylonian, Assyrian, Greek, and 
Roman cities — dead cities of antiquity. Though Euro- 
pean countries were first in the new field, in this search 
for the hidden truths of civilization, yet some of the 
greatest discoveries have been made by Americans 
during the brief period in which their activities have 
been employed in this fascinating field of exploration. 

' ' The first of the great American explorers in Bible 
lands was born in 1794, at Southington, Connecticut. 
His name was Edward Eobinson. Of sturdy New 
England stock, he grew to be a large, muscular young 
man; he was strong physically as well as mentally, 
and, with a thirst for Biblical knowledge which led 
him to explore Palestine. He was more than forty 
years old before he was able to succeed in his ambi- 
tion. He w^as then a professor in the Union Theo- 
logical Seminary, in New York City. Having ob- 
tained leave of absence, he started for the East. It 
was in the early part of April, 1838, that he arrived 
in the Holy Land and traveled the paths of the Bible 
stories. Fifteen years later, the Union Theological Sem- 
inary sent him on another journey. He did not spend 
more than five months in Palestine, but in that short 
period he made discoveries whose benefit has reached 
every boy and girl who looks at Bible maps of the 
Holy Land. Before this Southington boy went to 
Palestine, scores of places had been wrongly marked 
on those maps. It was he who identified most of 
them, giving them their right names. We now know 
such places as Megiddo, Shiloh, Pella, Bethel, Mich- 
mash, Mareshah, and the Vale of Elah, because he 
found out the truth about them. 

**The adventures of Edward Robinson read like 

483 



WONDER STORIES 



tales of chivalry. Starting on camel back and accom- 
panied by a missionary friend, Dr. Eli Smith, and a 
cook, he went from village to village, from city to city, 
from mound to mound. Dr. Smith knew the Arabic 
language. It was found that the two could learn more 
from the humble people with whom they talked than 
many scholars had been able to tell them. These 
people had preserved the true names of the places 
where they lived. Previous explorers, led astray by 
misinformed persons and by their ignorance of the 
language and customs of the people, had given false 
names to many places. Through Judea, Samaria, 
Galilee, the Lebanon district, and part of Syria, Eob- 
inson and his companion went, stirred by the idea of 
a new and better map of Palestine, and making care- 
ful notes on each day's work. 

*'It was in Gralilee that Eobinson discovered the 
ruins of buildings which he proved to be the type of 
the Jewish synagogue. He was the first to find the 
ruins of the supposed synagogue at Capernaum where 
Jesus preached. He found the remains of a large city 
at Petra. In Jerusalem, noticing the fragment of an 
arch projecting from the remains of a city wall, he 
showed that it belonged to the bridge which once con- 
nected the Temple with Mount Zion. ^Robinson's 
Arch' is now pointed out to all travelers in the Holy 
City. He crawled on hands and knees through the dark 
windings of the tunnel leading from the Virgin's 
Fountain to the Pool of Siloam. Through such labors 
and hardships did this Connecticut boy lay the founda- 
tions of a correct historical geography of the Holy 
Land." 

The Story-teller unfolded a map, and his listeners 
gathered about it. 

*^In those days," he continued, ^^ Robinson traveled 
on camels. He worked with surveyor's instruments, 

484 



STORY OF THE EXPLORER 



a pocket compass, a thermometer, and a measuring- 
tape. He was then seeking chiefly to identify old towns 
and cities, and he did much more talking than digging. 
He was careful to find out the Arabic words for old 
Hebrew names. He rode from village to village, 
examining ruins, and measuring distances. He was 
generally received kindly by the local sheikh, or chief, 
of the village, but sometimes he was robbed, and often 
he saw guns leveled at him and swords drawn. 

^^ Since that day many Americans have taken up 
the work of exploration. The discoveries have been 
wonderful. They have unearthed buried cities with 
the spade. Pieces of broken pottery, the vase, the urn, 
the jar, the slab, the tablet — have all revealed their 
wonder stories. The explorer has threaded his way 
through the buried temples, streets, bazaars, canals, 
and tombs. Then, too, there is the famous * pottery 
key,' which has opened the lock of many a mystery 
in buried cities. What is it? It is the method of 
determining the nation and time of certain relics by 
the pottery found accompanying them. The explorer 
keeps a sharp eye for the broken pieces of earthen- 
ware found in every ruin, often by the thousand. The 
letters, signs, and pictorial emblems thereon are care- 
fully studied and the different kinds of pottery tell 
the story of the time, place, and people from whence 
they come. 

**The expert digger among ruins of Palestine to- 
day can now tell whether a Phoenician, Hebrew, Ko- 
man, Greek, or Cypriote has lived on that site; nay, 
he can uncover a series of cities on the same site, down 
through sixty feet of accumulated soil, each city built 
upon the ruins of its predecessor. At Lachish and 
other places, Gilbert Jones Bliss, an American, the 
son of a missionary, has found proofs of eight distinct 
cities, which had been built during the period of some 

485 



WONDER STORIES 



twelve or fifteen hundred years. In the ruins of each 
of these eight cities were hidden, under mounds con- 
cealing the vessels, weapons and tablets that told of 
its origin and civilization. These mounds formed a 
foundation for the next people who built thereon, and 
who, in turn, passed away into the silences of history 
after leaving behind the footprints of their life. 

"In a plain between the Elvers Euphrates and 
Tigris, in the region of "Western Asia, in olden times 
called Babylonia, there is a tract of about one hun- 
dred and eighty acres, containing the remains of the 
ancient city of Xippur, mentioned in Genesis, X. At 
this place expeditions, sent out at different times 
by the University of Pennsylvania, unearthed the most 
striking proofs of an ancient and high civilization. 
The first of these expeditions, in 1888-89, was under 
the direction of the Eev. Dr. John P. Peters, professor 
of Hebrew in the Episcopal Divinity School of Phila- 
delphia. The remaining three (1889-90, 1893-96, and 
1898-1900) were under the direction of Dr. H. V. Hil- 
precht, Clark Research Professor of Assyriology and 
Professor of Semitic Philology and Archeology in 
the University of Pennsylvania. 

**In this ancient city of Nippur, one of the oldest 
in Babylonia, there was a varied life rivaling in many 
ways that of the modern city. On those marvelous 
tablets were inscribed all the important concerns of 
social and commercial life. These Babylonians of 
Nippur could make a contract so arranged that the 
tablet, with its clay envelope, carried its own evidence 
to detect the man who tried to play false. The tablet 
was a letter, account, or book, as the case demanded. 
Scores of thousands of them, disclosing the countless 
activities of a high civilization, in which law, com- 
merce, religion, and literature played their vital parts 
in the drama of a great national life, were brought 

486 



STORY OF THE EXPLORER 



to light. Many of tliem are now in the University 
museums of Philadelphia. 

*^ Records of the transactions of great business 
houses have been found. Cemeteries, in which the 
dead were burned, were unearthed. The places where 
the great bazaars were held were laid bare. The 
financial accounts of the temple of Bel were secured. 
Chapels, shrines, urns, vases, many of the latter ex- 
ceedingly beautiful, testify to a complex social life. 

*^Much might be said of the splendid achievements 
of Americans in adding to the knowledge of the East- 
ern Lands. The deep depression in Palestine formed 
by the valley of the Jordan and by the Dead Sea, 
1,300 feet below the level of the Mediterranean, was 
not accurately known until 1848, when the United 
States expedition, under Lieut. W. F. Lynch, estab- 
lished the truth. The important expeditions into 
Syria and Palestine under Dr. Howard Crosby Butler, 
of Princeton University, in 1899-1900 and 1904, added 
greatly to our knowledge of churches and Greek in- 
scriptions. Of this scholar's brilliant work at Sardis 
there is not time to speak, nor of other great work 
being done by Americans in foreigTL lands. The revela- 
tions only show us that civilization comes and goes 
like the nights and days. Great cities and nations ap- 
pear and disappear. Who knows but what in some 
day thousands of years in the future the explorers 
will create a world-wide sensation by announcing that 
they have unearthed the long-lost city of New York — 
once the metropolis of the Western Hemisphere!" 



32 



487 



THE STORY OF THE AMERICAN WOMAN 
AND THE TORCH OF CIVILIZATION 



THE Story-tellers broke into applause. Tliey rose 
to their feet instinctively. Before them stood an 
elderly lady with snow-white hair — the last 
woman to tell her story — and a wonderful story it is. 

**I came half-way around God's wonderful world,'' 
she said, *'to bring this message. It is a message of 
love, hope, and light — the miracle of Christianity." 

The gentle face smiled sweetly. 

*'I need not tell you," she said, softly, **the blessed 
story of that Christmas eve in Bethlehem more than 
nineteen hundred years ago. I need not point your 
vision to that tragic scene on the cross at Calvary. 
America received this message when the first explorer 
planted the flag on the soil of this New World. My 
story will relate how Americans, filled with the spirit 
of Christianity, which is the basis of all civilization, 
have gone out into every part of the world to carry 
the torch of Progress to all the people of the earth." 

There was a deep tenderness in her soft, gray eyes. 

*'I am a missionary," she said, *^one of the five 
thousand who have offered their lives to carry the 
* light' to the millions who have not yet heard the 
Christmas message of * peace on earth, good will to- 
ward men.' The word ^missionary' is the Latin of the 
Greek * apostle.' It signifies one who is sent. It is 
applied especially to one who is sent to propagate 
Christianity in heathen countries. Its history is re- 
plete with wonderful stories of enterprise and hero- 

488 



STORY OF THE MISSIONARY 



ism. Under its magical spell the Roman Empire was 
converted ; then it brought civilization to the barbarian 
hordes that overspread Europe ; and, in later times, it 
swept over the New World and opened a vast dominion 
for the miraculous power of Christianity. 

*^The missionary movement in the United States 
may be traced to the New England hills. In the little 
village of Andover, in Massachusetts, is a seminary. 
One day six young students in this seminary decided 
to organize a movement Ho carry the gospel to foreign 
lands.' Among these students was Adoniram Jud- 
son — a youth born at Maiden, Massachusetts, in 1788. 
It was decided to send young Judson to London to 
confer with the Missionary Society established there 
a few years earlier. Like Paul, he experienced the 
* perils of the deep,' for he was captured by a French 
privateer and thrown into prison at Bayonne. But, 
after being released, he continued his journey and 
executed his commission. On his return, he, with four 
others, was appointed as a missionary for India and 
Burma. The five arrived at Calcutta on the 17th of 
June, 1812. The East India Company, however, or- 
dered them to leave its territory immediately. So, 
after many dangers, young Judson, mth his wife, 
eventually began his labors in Rangoon. 

^*It must be remembered that at this time Burma 
was practically outside the pale of civilization. Budd- 
hism was the only religion known to the Burmese 
proper ; while the various hill tribes w^ere nature wor- 
shipers. The king of the country was a despot, and 
usually a bloodthirsty one. However, for some time, 
Judson was left in peace to lay the foundations for 
the new Christianity. He even gained the ear and good 
will of the King, and transferred his headquarters 
to Ava, the capital. Then came those fateful days in 
1824. War broke out between England and Burma. 

489 



WONDER STORIES 



The Burmese authorities, to whom all white men were 
alike, threw Judson into a loathsome dungeon and 
subjected him to all kinds of barbarities. He was con- 
demned to death — but, after an imprisonment of over 
a year and a half, he was released on the demand of 
General Sir Archibald Campbell, and took a prom- 
inent part in the peace negotiations between England 
and Burma. 

^'But here the story only just begins. Dr. Judson 
was the first to translate the Bible into Burmese. His 
wife, Ann Hasseltine Judson, was the first American 
woman to leave her friends and country on a mis- 
sionary errand. Her story is one of deprivation and 
self-sacrifice. During her husband's imprisonment 
she ministered to him with unflagging devotion. The 
noble woman died of fever in 1826, and her husband, 
after a second marriage, succumbed to the terrible 
fevers in 1856. But their great work still lives. To- 
day, after one hundred years, Rangoon has a flourish- 
ing Christian college, and a large publishing house, 
working in nine languages and employing a staff of 
250. There are more than 700 mission schools scat- 
tered throughout Burma to-day. 

^^ Since that eventful day," continued the Story- 
teller, *Hhe American missionary has sown the seed 
of civilization in every part of the earth. The story 
is too long to tell how the different denominations of 
the Christian church have joined hands in this mar- 
velous achievement. It is sufficient to say that they 
are all doing a noble work and confine myself to a few 
thrilling anecdotes. 

**Did you ever visit the ^hermit kingdom' of Korea? 
That is the latest field of conquest for the American 
missionary. Not until the last thirty years has it been 
in communication with the outside world, except when 
the Chinese and Japanese took turns in invading and 

490 



STORY OF THE MISSIONARY 



oppressing it. But at last Korea has experienced a 
new kind of invasion. What a story it is — this inva- 
sion of Korea by devoted American women! This 
noble army marched nnder the banner of Christ to 
carry the blessings of civilization to Korean woman- 
hood. Koreans, like other Orientals, conld not under- 
stand the idea of educating w^omen. ^A girl,' they 
said, 'is not capable of education; and, even if she 
were, it would do her no good; all she needs to know 
is how to obey.' 

**No man in the world could break down this 
prejudice. Oriental customs and prejudices do not 
allow interference or familiar relations with women, 
except by members of their ow^n sex. The American 
women, therefore, decided to undertake the work 
which was beyond the power of men. It was in 1885 
that Mrs. M. F. Scranton, with several assistants, rep- 
resenting the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, 
landed in Korea. Within a year, for the first time in 
history, a school for girls was opened in Seoul, the 
capital of Korea. The King of the country actually 
gave his approval, and bestowed on the institution the 
name of Eiva HaMang, or 'The Pear Flower School.' 
The girls caused much scandal by singing and playing 
in the garden. It was a shocking impropriety. But 
the 'Pear Flower' school flourished, until to-day the 
Korean damsels hold their musical exercises and May 
Day parties, and it is quite the proper social func- 
tion. Many day schools for girls have been opened 
in various parts of the country and the educated 
maiden is the pride of her people. 

* ' Let me say here that medical science is the * Open 
Sesame,' through which the missionary accomplished 
most of his miracles. The natives appreciate the cur- 
ing of their bodily ills, even though they may not be 
conscious of their spiritual infirmities. A lady 

491 



WONDER STORIES 



doctor — Miss Meta Howard — who came to Seoul in 
1887, attracted many women patients, and through 
the dispensary, there as elsewhere, the mission made 
its first friends. 

^'To-day there are in Korea more than ten thou- 
sand women within the fold of the church, and as 
many more w^ho are connected with it. There are over 
one hundred native women engaged in mission work 
as teachers and nurses. And this in a land where, a 
few years ago, it was thought absurd to teach a girl 
to read! 

^'I must not tell you of the exciting experiences of 
the pioneers in the 'by-ways of the world,' " said the 
enthusiastic woman. '^I have promised to leave that 
to my husband whose story you will now hear. He 
will now relate adventures that stir the heart and 
strengthen your faith in human nature. 

''One last thought in this fascinating and inspir- 
ing story of the missionary," exclaimed the elderly 
speaker. "It is this: Take away the devoted mission- 
aries of civilization, and who can estimate where the 
world would be to-day! Would Africa be an explored 
continent? Would China be a republic? Are there any 
5,000 individuals existing that the world could so ill 
afford to lose? I thank God that I have lived to see 
His Kingdom of Love extended into every portion of 
the globe, and that I have been privileged to be one 
of its humble standard bearers.'' 

The beautiful old lady sank into her chair. Her 
face was illumined by a sweet light — like a crown of 
glory for deeds well done. 

Silence lay over the Story-tellers for a moment — 
and then they burst into enthusiastic and prolonged 
applause. 



492 



THE STORY OF THE PIONEER ON THE 
PATH OF THE WORLD'S PROGRESS 



THE elderly gentleman arose and paused a moment 
before he spoke. 
^^The adventures of the pioneer male missionary 
would make a thrilling volume," he said. ^^But I will 
tell you first about a man who had been laboring 
there for ten years when the political troubles arising 
out of the Russo-Japanese War burst over Korea. The 
King and Queen were very friendly to him and had 
implicit faith in his loyalty. One day the Queen was 
murdered. The King distrusted his own people and 
did not know which way to turn. He placed his 
faith in only one man — and that was an American 
missionary — Horace G. Underwood. The troubled 
King would accept no food except that prepared by Mr. 
Underwood and his wife. 

*^The King, in his fear, was finally forced to take 
refuge in the Russian embassy. During this period, 
some of the missionaries used to spend the night in 
the embassy in order to be near the threatened mon- 
arch. One midnight the sound of a shot aroused Mr. 
Underwood and his two companions. Surmising its 
tragic meaning, they made a dash for the King^s 
apartments, brushing aside the guards who attempted 
to halt them. Two officers stationed at the door, at- 
tempted to bar the way with their crossed swords. 
The intrepid missionary struck the swords with his 
revolver, and rushed through, to find the King in a 
state of great agitation, calling out for his ^for- 

493 



WONDER STORIES 



eigners/ There is no doubt that there had been an 
attempt on the King's life, which was frustrated by 
the promptness and courage of the American mission- 
aries. 

^'But the wonder of wonders," said the elderly 
man, whose story was holding his hearers spell- 
bound, ^'is Pyeng Yang, the second city of Korea, 
which to-day is a scene of bustling Christian activity. 
It has a public bathhouse, the first, probably, ever 
erected in the Far East. So drastic a change in habits 
as such an institution may well betoken the wonderful 
change of heart that has overcome the Koreans. In- 
deed, we have many practical proofs of this. The 
Koreans, both men and women, are inveterate smok- 
ers. Think, then, what it means when I tell you that 
the natives on occasions have formed themselves into 
anti-tobacco leagues and are giving to the church the 
money thus saved. 

^'Let me tell you some stories of physical violence. 
The missionary now, as of old, must always be pre- 
pared to face death. AYe all remember the shock- 
ing massacre of several American missionaries dur- 
ing the Boxer riots in China. Is there anything more 
heroic in the annals of war than the last stand of 
Pitkin of Pas-ting Fu? When the Boxers approached, 
he, with two ladies, barricaded him_self in the mission 
house, with the grim resolution of fighting to the death. 
All day the Boxer army, a thousand strong, howled 
around the house — and all day Pitkin held his fort, 
firing with deadly precision from a window. At sun- 
set he was shot from a tree; and, as he lay mortally 
wounded, the Boxer fiends rushed in and hacked him 
to pieces. Of the two ladies, one died from shock, 
the other was captured and beheaded. 

*^The story of Lorimer Porter, who had a narrow 
escape from death at the hands of the Hindoos, in 

494 



STORY OF THE PIONEER 



1907, is typical of the dangers met by American mis- 
sionaries. He, together with his wife and child, was 
assailed with large stones by a murderous mob. They 
managed to escape, but the mob burned their house. 
The cause of the trouble was some unpopular act of 
the British Governor, which the American missionary 
was suspected of approving. 

^'Two missionaries from California, John Wise- 
man and Wesley Newbern, recently had some thrilling 
experiences in Palestine. They are unattached work- 
ers, who believe in conforming strictly to the apostolic 
model by dressing in Eastern garb, having no fixed 
abode, and traveling on foot from place to place. 
They were surrounded by Arab robbers on the road 
between Jerusalem and Jericho, which has had until 
recently the same unenviable reputation as in the days 
of the Good Samaritan. As they had no money, the 
Arabs declared that they should die. The two Chris- 
tians silently prayed for deliverance. Suddenly, out 
of a clear sky, came a terrific sandstorm, and the 
Arabs threw themselves on the ground and wrapped 
their heads in their burnooses. The travelers escaped 
through the whirling sand and arrived in safety at 
their destination. 

<<Erom the blinding sandstorms of the Syrian 
desert to the icy plains of the far north is a far cry," 
the Story-teller continued. *^But, among the Eskimos 
of the Baffin's Bay country, America has the most 
northerly mission in the world. The only link that 
binds the inhabitants of this dreary region to civiliza- 
tion is a ship which calls there every thirteen months. 
This mission was founded by a clergyman named Peck, 
in 1879. His first church was eaten by the dogs — it 
was made of sealskins. That was an ingenious idea of 
the missionary's in a land without timber. At his 
persuasion, the Eskimos gave up their time-honored 

495 



WONDER STORIES 



custom of killing off their old men and women at a 
certain age. He used a magic lantern to help his 
teaching. The Eskimos were immensely interested, 
and came to see it from hundreds of miles aroimd. 

''I have told you something of woman's work in 
the mission field. Their o:reatest triumph has surelv 
been the foundation of the American College for Girls 
at Constantinople. When we remember how the edu- 
cation of women has been neglected in the East, how 
can we overestimate the imjDortance of the only in- 
stitution in the near East for the higher education of 
women? Thither flock students from the Balkans on 
the north, from Persia on the east, from Egypt and 
Syria on the south, and from Greece and Albania on 
the west. And they return to their countries, if not 
Christians, at least with Christian culture, which they 
disseminate in their turn. Fifteen different nation- 
alities are represented on its rolls, and the professors, 
twenty-six in number, have been taken from the best 
American colleges. 

^'Just one more word for the American women," 
the missionary added, ^'this time in iDlague-stricken 
India. A community in the remote mountain region 
was stricken with cholera. Everybody, whites and 
natives ahke, fled. Only one person remained to with- 
stand the dread scourge, and that a frail American 
girl missionary — Miss Annie Budden. She stayed to 
minister to the sick and the dying — nay, even to bury 
the dead. 

*'I might tell stories endlessly of similar heroism, 
but now let me turn for a moment to the wonderful 
achievement of the missionary movement as a whole. 
North, east, south, west — wherever there is a pagan 
nation or a savage tribe, there is the emissary of civil- 
ization in their midst. No one can fully estimate the 
great work that the American missionary is doing, a 

496 



STORY OF THE PIONEER 



work for the betterment of Hhose that sit in darkness.' 
He not only is extending the kingdom of God on earth, 
but he is the forerunner of progress. If Japan is to- 
day far advanced in medicine and surgery, it owes it 
to the missionaries. In China and Turkey, to take 
two conspicuous instances, it is Western medical 
science that is supplanting native methods and bring- 
ing the dawn of a new civilization. The missionary is 
educating the world. Wherever he goes, he builds a 
school, as well as a church. He is the magic worker 
who turns the searchlight onto ignorance and trans- 
forms it into intelligence. In the midst of the dark- 
ness of horrible superstition, the mission school shines 
as a beacon light. He maintains hospitals. He builds 
trade schools. He has checked the terrible crime of 
infanticide where it exists. Everywhere, he is lifting 
people to a higher moral and material standard. 

*^It is the missionary who opens the trade routes," 
declared the Story-teller, ^^They are the forerunners 
of the world's commerce. It is the missionary who 
perforce introduces all kinds of American goods to 
people that want them — and who, but for him, would 
never have heard of them. We may well be proud of 
the fact that our country leads the world in missionary 
enterprise. Of the world's annual contribution to mis- 
sions, the United States gives over $12,000,000. There 
are over 5,000 American missionaries; they employ 
about 30,000 native teachers and preachers. There 
are forty-six foreign mission societies in this country. 
The native adherents number nearly two millions. If 
America is to lead the world it will be because it has 
led the way for civilization with the torch of the 
American missionary. ' ' 



497 



THE STORY OF THE CLERGYMAN AXD 
THE MIRACLE OF MIRACLES 



IT was Cliristmas Eve. The Story-tellers were 
gathered around the blazing hearth for the last 
time. It was the man in a black frock — the clergy- 
man — ^who was to relate the last story. 

*^My story," said he, in low, cultured tones, ''is the 
miracle of miracles — the source and power behind all 
the world's achievements. It is the crowning glory of 
them all. There is one parting thought that I would 
give you at this moment. It is this : Wonderful as is 
man and his handiwork, how much more wonderful is 
the Creator of man! If man in his frailty can per- 
form such wonders as you have related, what must be 
the infinite power of the Creator of all creation ! Who, 
after listening to these miracles of modern times, can 
for an instant Cjuestion the miraculous power of God ? ' ' 

A reverent hush fell over the Story-tellers. 

"This is Christmas Eve," continued the clergy- 
man. "To-morrow will be the birthday of Him who 
came to the earth more than nineteen hundred years 
ago to save a lost world and to inspire hope and faith 
in the hearts of men. The story of the rise and prog- 
ress of Christianity is indeed a "Wonder Story. It is 
through this miraculous power that the light of prog- 
ress was thrown upon the dark ages; it is the torch 
which has led the way for civilization. Beginning in 
that little cradle in Bethlehem, it passed through the 
fiery furnaces of paganism. It had to face terrible 
persecutions at the hands of its foes; yet it spread 
with astonishing rapidity throughout the world. 

498 



STORY OF THE CHURCH 



*'The turning-point in the history of early Chris- 
tianity came with its recognition by Constantine, after 
his famous victory over Maxentius, won under the 
standard of the Cross. This occurred in 313, just 1,600 
years ago. It took some seven centuries to Christian- 
ize Europe. In the fifteenth century came the great 
crisis of the Eeformation which revitalized Chris- 
tianity. Men asserted freedom of worship — the right 
to serve God according to the dictates of conscience. 

*'The discovery of the New World offered a new 
field for Christian enterprise. Missionary effort went 
hand in hand with exploration and gold-seeking. The 
story of the first Christian church sel up in America 
is as interesting as a romance. So far as we can 
gather, it happened as follows : Vasquez de Ayllon, a 
Spanish judge, received a charter from Emperor 
Charles V. to colonize a certain part of what was 
afterwards called Virginia. The document specially 
enjoined that efforts were to be made to evangelize 
the natives, and two Dominican friars were taken along 
for this purpose. Ayllon set out in June, 1526, with 
three vessels, carrying 600 persons, and founded a 
settlement called San Miguel, near the spot where 
Jamestown stood later. There a small chapel was 
erected — the first in the territory now occupied by the 
United States." 

The clergyman turned toward the historians as he 
spoke. 

^^The Protestant Episcopal Church came to us 
with the first settlement of Virginia, in 1607. These 
pioneers were men zealous for Church and State in 
England. The charter granted by King James ex- 
pressly provided for the celebration of religious wor- 
ship according to the rites of the Church of England. 
The first Episcopal — and, incidentally, the first Prot- 

499 



WONDER STORIES 



estant, church erected in this country — consisted 
mainly of an old sail fastened to some convenient 
trees. It was furnished with log seats and a pulpit 
made by nailing a bar of wood to two trees. 

''The advent of the Pilgrim Fathers, in 1620, 
marks the beginning of Congregationalism in this 
country. This movement was a revolt against the 
authority of the Established Church of England, 
which, sternly repressed at home, found a congenial 
soil in the New World. The austere reformers were 
enabled to carry out their ideas of religious freedom, 
without let or hindrance. 

*'The Baptists owe their origin in America to 
Eoger Williams, who attained such celebrity by his 
advocacy of religious toleration. After his banish- 
ment by the authorities of Massachusetts, on account 
of his peculiar views, he adopted Baptist principles, 
and the first Baptist Church in the New World was 
founded in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1639. 

* ' Presbyterianism in America was derived origi- 
nally from the Scottish settlers in Ulster, who began 
to emigrate to America about the middle of the seven- 
teenth century. A fresh tide of emigration set in for 
New England, Pennsylvania, and other parts, in 1713, 
and the Presbyterian Church became established in 
the New World. 

** Methodism was brought to this country even be- 
fore its complete organization in England under John 
Wesley. It was his one-time famous partner in the 
movement, George Whitefield, who introduced it into 
Philadelphia in 1739. 

**In no other country of the world are there so 
many religious denominations represented as in the 
United States. There are no fewer than 142 separate 
bodies. From the humblest beginnings, Christianity 

500 



STORY OF THE CHURCH 



lias gradually become a miglity force in the land. 
There are in the United States to-day over 35,000,000 
communicants or formal members of the various re- 
ligious bodies, worshipping in over 218,000 churches, 
and under the spiritual care of over 170,000 ministers. 
The total value of the church property in the country 
is over a billion and a quarter dollars. There are 277 
colleges and universities under the control of the de- 
nominations. 

*^But mere figures can convey no adequate idea of 
the enormous share taken by the Church in our na- 
tional life. Take the Christian Church out of American 
life — take it out of the world life — and what is there 
left to our civilization? It performs important 
duties and fulfills large responsibilities. Everywhere 
it cares for the sick and poor ; it raises the degraded, 
and teaches the ignorant; it sets our moral code and 
maintains our ethical ideals. Many instances may be 
recalled in the course of our history in which the voice 
of the Church has been raised on behalf of justice and 
humanity. Indeed, it may be said that, in every stage 
of our onward progress, its potent influence can be 
seen at work. Thus the religion which the cross typi- 
fies has become a vital and indispensable part of our 
national life. May it ever remain free and untram- 
meled.^' 

The clergyman stood silent for a moment, as if in 
contemplation. Then turning to the Story-tellers, he 
said: 

^^My friends, as we part on this memorable occa- 
sion, let us not forget the great lessons that we have 
gathered from these stories of the wonderful achieve- 
ments of men, but let us remember always that behind 
every one of them is the Hand of God ! ' ^ 

501 



NOV 29 1913 

Tl CHRISTIAN HERALD 



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